What is mecanse? ( spell? ) (majency, magenci, mergence, meyancé, meganse, madjensie)
- Thread starter Kraliche
- Start date
Greek Bonfire
Well-known member
Let me ask my dance coach. She used to dance in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Kraliche
New member
Dear Greek Bonfire,
Can you ask her, if dancers have her own magency ... like a theme song? Do they have just one or many? ( it may be boring dance to ONE song everynight, but may be easy for the band .. )
I LOOOVE this site, this is something that I would never be able to learn here in Turkey!!!
Can you ask her, if dancers have her own magency ... like a theme song? Do they have just one or many? ( it may be boring dance to ONE song everynight, but may be easy for the band .. )
I LOOOVE this site, this is something that I would never be able to learn here in Turkey!!!
Yame
New member
This. It is sometimes composed specifically for an individual dancer. And it's often used on the exit, too, so the same song that opened the show will close the show.
Daimona
Moderator
Just to be nitpicking a bit, I wouldn't say it is the magency that is repeated as the exit song, but one of the themes from the magency are often used in the finale.
Yame
New member
Yes, exactly. That's a better way to express it. The song itself doesn't get repeated in the same way... it's just "themes" from it that can be recognized.
I still consider it the same song, because to me it's as if it's all one song that got split somewhere in the middle and had different songs added to it and then it picks up where it had left off in the beginning. It's not literally that, but that's how I think of it.
So it's not the same song being repeated twice exactly the same way.
Safran
New member
Daimona, thanks for posting the link to the article. I am about to teach a megance to my intermediates this upcoming autumn, and this article will help me a lot when it comes to explaining what it really is!
As for the specific dancers having their own megances - sometimes it is also that a dancer chooses an existing megance and makes it her trademark. Can't think of examples right now though :think:
As for the specific dancers having their own megances - sometimes it is also that a dancer chooses an existing megance and makes it her trademark. Can't think of examples right now though :think:
Daimona
Moderator
You're welcome, Safran!
You may think of the magency as an overture for the show, where the various parts are repesented, and the finale picks up some of the most typical themes from the magency to sum it up. The way I see it, they aren't the same song, but belong together as they will make the show more like one unit than just a string of separate pieces.
You may think of the magency as an overture for the show, where the various parts are repesented, and the finale picks up some of the most typical themes from the magency to sum it up. The way I see it, they aren't the same song, but belong together as they will make the show more like one unit than just a string of separate pieces.
Kraliche
New member
Can I ask a spin-off question?
Some CDs include "finale" song of 1-2 min for the magency. ( i.e. Wash ya wash ), so I can make a set of magency A + drum solo/shaabi/chiftetelli/or whatever + finale A.
If magency B doesn't have a finale in the CD, how am I supposed to finish?
Do I put other finale song? Or is it a good idea to use music editor and make a self-made finale out of magency B???
Or do you just pick up a song that has its finale song?
Some CDs include "finale" song of 1-2 min for the magency. ( i.e. Wash ya wash ), so I can make a set of magency A + drum solo/shaabi/chiftetelli/or whatever + finale A.
If magency B doesn't have a finale in the CD, how am I supposed to finish?
Do I put other finale song? Or is it a good idea to use music editor and make a self-made finale out of magency B???
Or do you just pick up a song that has its finale song?
Daimona
Moderator
Yes and yes!
If I want to finish with the same themes as the magency, I'd use music editor (such as Audacity; see http://www.bellydanceforums.net/music/14178-music-editing-software.html for previous threads about this program) and make a self-made finale. Magencies usually have very distinct parts, which may make it easier to copy parts for your finale.
(Noone can tell I like magencies, huh?
)
Last edited:
Kashmir
New member
All good information so far - but further, you don't dance much in the majency. There is often a long period off stage - for one longish one I think the entrance came 5 minutes in (before that it ran through the themes and then there was that drum thing - I think I've heard it called the arba’a - a quick roll).
Once on stage - don't dance your butt off. You normally start with some style of dance walk. You present yourself to the audience. Let them absorb who you are; your costume etc. Maybe stop for a hip or shoulder accent. Does depend on the piece and the venue - but if you want to do it as a majency don't over dance it. It is an introduction - not a dance.
Once on stage - don't dance your butt off. You normally start with some style of dance walk. You present yourself to the audience. Let them absorb who you are; your costume etc. Maybe stop for a hip or shoulder accent. Does depend on the piece and the venue - but if you want to do it as a majency don't over dance it. It is an introduction - not a dance.
Daimona
Moderator
Kashmir
New member
Interesting - but I'd say what she describes is a full Orientale set - not just the majency. Possibly the problem comes from compressing the dances so in a few minutes a dancer goes through her majency and into her actual dance.
Kraliche
New member
Dear Kashmir
Thank you for your information.
I found this - Fifi's magency - and thought it is a good example of " magency as an introduction "
Fifi Abdou Bellydancer - YouTube
However, when I watch Randa's, she dances ... more like a sampler plate rather than an apetizer. And it is closer to what we learn as "oriental" in workshops. Maybe is this the trend?
Thank you for your information.
I found this - Fifi's magency - and thought it is a good example of " magency as an introduction "
Fifi Abdou Bellydancer - YouTube
However, when I watch Randa's, she dances ... more like a sampler plate rather than an apetizer. And it is closer to what we learn as "oriental" in workshops. Maybe is this the trend?
Daimona
Moderator
I agree. I know I've read something about it somewhere, but couldn't retrieve where I read it and this link was the closest I got.
PracticalDancer
New member
I believe Gilded Serpent had an article on mergences recently, specifically on how they were used at a competition. And, if I recall correctly, our own Shems wrote about them in the articles section of her site; at a minimum she has her own performance to one on her YouTube channel. (Sorry, having trouble pasting links from my phone.)
Regards,
Anala
Regards,
Anala
Kraliche
New member
found the article! Gilded Serpent, Belly Dance News & Events , “Ghannili Shwayya, Shwayya?