Melisande (2025) for Confluence Ballet Company by Ayça Akin
Listen and read the story of the Melisande ballet [FIRST HALF]
Story
The story follows one woman split into three versions of herself: Past Melisande, Present Melisande, and Future Melisande. They each struggle to control the same heart. Present finds herself by a stream, haunted by a loss she can’t explain, drawn again and again to a crown in the water where her pain and desire live.
Past tries to protect her, Future pushes her toward what must happen, and the three collide until her will breaks. In the end, the Present accepts her fate, to die, as the crown, the symbol of her suffering and longing, slips once more beneath the surface.
Concept
This ballet is a poetic interpretation of Maurice Maeterlinck’s play Pelléas et Mélisande. This story is a tragedy that follows the forbidden love of Pellas and Melisande. This version of the story is told entirely from Mélisande’s perspective, and is about the internal experience of her character in the play, rather than the external events surrounding them.
Mélisande experiences distant memories, foreboding feelings, and accepts her ultimate fate. Other characters are removed to focus solely on Mélisande’s inner world. The dance is meant to feel like a dreamscape set in a liminal space.
AYÇA AKIN is an award-winning composer based in the United States. Akın studied piano performance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Music Preparatory School. From 2022 to 2024, she completed her orchestral composing studies under composer and teacher Leon Willett.
Recognized for her musicality and emotional depth, Akın has since composed concert works and scored several films. In 2025, Akın was nominated for “Best Composer of the Future” at the Cannes World Film Festival for her original score of award-winning film The Balloon (2025).
In 2025, Akın was winner of the Annual Concert Competition for the International Alliance for Women in Music. Virago Symphonic Orchestra premiered her piece Tempesta in Cologne, Germany this September. Other recent commissions include music for New York City’s Ensemble Ipse and new music for Confluence Ballet Company’s Spring 2026 season.
More about Ayça can be found at:
www.ayca-akin.com