A DiVine Discovery!

Disney has a way of introducing you and your family to fine arts without you realizing what's happening. I'm not just talking about the animation we've come to expect from both Disney and Pixar. Attractions like it's a small world are like stepping into a painting, much like Mary Poppins and crew do in the famous sidewalk chalk segment of the movie.

However, Disney also brings you performance art in many forms. Whether it's living statuary at Epcot or a full-scale production like Cirque de Soleil's La Nouba at Downtown Disney, there are many opportunities to let your children experience living art in many forms.

One of my personal favorite examples of this is the elusive DiVine at Disney's Animal Kingdom. She's usually around Africa at various times between 10 and 2, and although she's up to 16 feet tall, she's sometimes pretty hard to spot. Truthfully, the only way I noticed her the first time I saw her was the crowd of people who had gathered to watch her fluid movements. Disguised as -- wait for it -- a huge vine, she remains stationary for a good portion of her performance, tricking you into thinking you are looking at a really large vine. Or more often, tricking you into simply walking right by the huge vine.

But then she comes to life, and she swings and glides through the area, moving to interact with the crowd or the other nature around her. Some children, especially the under-four set, can be pretty frightened by her, as she doesn't fit into what they understand to be reality. A little encouragement can set this to right.

My daughter was four when she saw DiVine the first time and she was mesmerized. She did have some questions, though, as she didn't quite understand what she was seeing. She hasn't seen many people on stilts, and especially the way DiVine uses them. I encouraged her to just watch as much as possible, and then once DiVine started gliding away, we talked about her questions.

To prepare for writing this post, I shared some videos of her and other performance artists in this company (The Living Garden) with my five-year-old and three-year-old. Both were completely entranced. My daughter said, "She's so beautiful!"

And she really is.