Mercuriale: Or when Hermes dines with Dionysus
The 1957 Mercuriale Gala in the local press
Up untilthen, students at the school had organized dances in the style of "surprise parties", to use the fashionable language of the 1950s.
In 1954, a landmark event took place for the first time. With the tacit agreement of the management at the time, a group of students decided to stage a " prestige soir&e acute;e" under the auspices of local officials, led by the Prefect and Mayor of Angers.
All the city's notables flocked to the gilded salons of the "Welcome". Admission is by invitation, and the price is relatively high. As arbiters of elegance, dancers in suits, tuxedos or uniforms rub shoulders with the most beautiful evening gowns. Showcases have been set up all around the three halls, which feature two orchestras. All the locations have been allocated to the city's luxury shops, with proceeds going exclusively to children's charities.
This brilliant initiative was a masterstroke. The following year, at the end of January 1955, the " Bal de l'ESSCA " became a fixture on the local scene. It became one of the most eagerly awaited social events of the Anjou season.
Over the past 50 years, the event has evolved, relocating and re-locating according to circumstances and the number of participants.
Over the years, the " Mercu " has become a "more intimate" party, still attended by several hundred people, but internal to the school.
Nowadays, the end of each year is marked by a gala evening where alumni and students together celebrate the departure of future graduates. One of the school's many associations brilliantly takes charge of organizing this very special occasion: theMercure Association.
Comparison is certainly not reason, but certain analogies between our Mercuriales and the solstitial events of pagan antiquity appear quite striking, even if this statement may prove quite rash within a school with such deep-rooted Christianity.
For the record, "Saturnalia" marked the Roman winter solstice. Posterity has retained its festive character, but also the absence, if not the reversal, of hierarchies and social barriers.The masters went so far as to wear the slaves' bonnets, while the latter were given the power to command them, or at least to participate in the feasts on an equal footing with them.
Our festivities have retained some remarkable features of this tradition. For example, it has become a tradition to ensure the participation on stage, if not of the management, then at least of the professors, through real acts, ranging from music hall to the purest happening. In this way, over the years, our students have seen their teachers in the most unexpected roles. And these one-night-only spectators will probably still remember them fondly long afterwards.
Forgive us for forgetting any of them. In no particular order, let's mention Guy PILLARD, a consulting engineer in a Fernand RAYNAUD-style one-man show, Marc ROSENBERG, who left econometrics to take up a post in the pharmaceutical industry.leaving econometrics for the posture of the guitarist-hero, Philippe MARCHAND, law professor, conductor in frac and wig and twice a veritable chamber orchestra, but also, and in no particular order of promotion, Guy PILLARD and Marc ROSENBERG.ritable chamber orchestra, as well as Jacques de LATROLLIERE, Director of Studies, as a Spanish dancer with castanets, and even the Managing Director himself,Dominique WAQUET, who didn't hesitate to give his line in a pastiche of the competition oral...
We'll leave it to Alix MALARTIC (class of 1982) to conclude: " You can be a really serious school preparing good managers and still not take yourself too seriously. "
In 2008, the 57th Mercuriale invited students aboard the Orient-Express
