5 on Friday -- Set 240

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.

Just wrapping up a glorious two weeks of vacation from my day job. Had a short trip down to Yarmouth at the beginning of my time off to celebrate my mom's best friend's 80th birthday.

That's my mom, Paulette, above with my brother-in-law Newt, my sister Michelle, me and my husband Brad.

And here's the birthday boy -- Bill -- in light blue at right, with Jim, also a longtime family friend.

A great time was had by all (although we managed to refrain from getting written up in the papers.)

For the most part, I've been having a staycation and getting lots of rest, although Brad and I have been going on lots of adventures (you can check out our A For Adventure Challenge HERE.)

One thing I've been indulging in -- non-stop -- is watching ballet on You Tube. Sending out gratitude to all the people who secretly videotape live performances and then post them on You Tube (not allowed by any stretch of the imagination, as all live performances are copyrighted by the show's producers.) It used to be my job to stop people from doing just that when I worked as an usher at the performing arts theatre in Toronto. That was before the arrival of cellphone cameras.

I shouldn't be grateful to all of these people taping the footage -- but I am! I can't fly around the world at the moment to see all of these performances, so spending hours watching ballet on You Tube is the next best thing.

So, since I'm most definitely in a ballet state of mind, here are five lighthearted pieces from ballet scores that, unless you're a massive ballet freak like me, you likely haven't heard. They aren't the main musical themes, so you would need to hear the full ballet score in order to discover these. They've always been favorites of mine. 

1 - Reconnaissance from Carnaval --  composed by Robert Schumann -- performed by Manon Hutton-DeWys

Well, almost all of these have been favorites of mine for years. This one is a brand new discovery after watching the Harlequin and Columbine pas de deux (dance for two) from Carnaval during this vacation. 

2 - Diamond Fairy Variation (or solo dance) from Sleeping Beauty -- composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

3 - Morning Serenade from Romeo and Juliet -- composed by Sergei Prokofiev

4 - Andante from the Peasant Pas de Deux, Act I of Giselle -- composed by Adolphe Adam

5 - Neopolitan Dance from Act III of Swan Lake -- composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky