Beyond the Aquarium
Maui Ocean Center unveils two new evening shows honoring music, dance and culture.
story by Ariella Nardizzi
photographs by Chris Amundson
For more than 25 years, Maui Ocean Center has invited guests to peer beneath the waves – sharks slicing through blue light, honu drifting like ancient spirits and rainbow coral gardens painting the floor. But the Māʻalaea landmark is now making waves on a different stage – music and dance.
The first splash comes with “Mele: The Hawaiian Music Experience,” staged inside the Ocean Center’s Sphere Theater. The multisensory experience is the brainchild of Maui’s own Eric Gilliom, whose celebrated family has entertained in Hawaiʻi for generations. Gilliom has sung alongside Willie Nelson, John Legend and Steven Tyler, fronts Mick Fleetwood’s House of Rumors Band and now brings that same energy home to Maui.
“It might be different from the one in Vegas, but we have a Sphere here on Maui,” Gilliom quipped. In one year, he built “Mele,” which means ‘song’ in Hawaiian, into a 16-track celebration of place. The show opens with “Haleakalā,” soaring over panoramic volcanic footage, then plunges to the ocean’s depths in songs about wayfinding and reef life. The setlist moves from Don Ho’s classic “Tiny Bubbles” to the catchy “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride.”
Every guest dons headphones for studio-quality sound, and audience members are invited to sing along on “Surf,” a rollicking ode to Maui’s iconic breaks.
The evening begins with complimentary pūpū and soft drinks at Seascape Restaurant at 5 p.m., followed by the show at 6 p.m. on most Tuesdays and Saturdays.
On Fridays, Seascape Restaurant transforms again with “Migrations,” a dinner-and-dance performance overlooking the harbor. Maui native Keoni Manuel spent 10 years developing the show, honoring the canoe voyagers, plantation workers and modern immigrants who journeyed to Hawaiʻi – and the dances they carried with them.
The evening begins at 6 p.m. with an international buffet of poke, sushi, Molokaʻi sweet potato salad, vegetable lumpia, kalbi-style beef, pork enchiladas and island-inspired desserts. After the lights dim, the story begins.
Manuel sings, dances, designs costumes and directs the show. Fellow performers lead guests through a whirlwind of Polynesian, Asian, Mexican and European dances and traditions, each step honoring the resilience of the island’s many diverse communities.
“This show takes guests through the stories of the generations of people who make Hawaiʻi what it is today,” Manuel said. “It celebrates the diverse cultures that I grew up with and that reflect my own mixed heritage.”
With “Mele” and “Migrations,” Maui Ocean Center reimagines what an oceanfront gathering place is: part aquarium, part cultural stage and wholly Hawaiian.
Maui Ocean Center showcases two new shows, “Mele” and “Migrations.” “Mele” is a 16-track performance with studio sound and “Migrations” shines the spotlight on the melting pot of Polynesian, Asian, Mexican and European cultures that make up Maui.
