“Live, Laugh, Love” was the theme of the 2015 FIG Gala, presented after a week of Gymnastics spectacle at the Helsinki Ice Hall.

The Gala had it all. There was the dramatic - Rhythmic combined with Trampoline from Team Vaud (SUI), a powerful “Tango Amore” from Portugal’s Ginasio Clube Portuges and “Bolero,” movingly performed by the Great Britain National Disabilities Display Team.

There was the strikingly beautiful - a wonderful rendition of “Swan Lake” from Chile’s Stadio Italiano, polished as a mirror; and a fantastic performance from World Gymnaestrada regular Malmöflickorna (SWE), who performed fantastic feats with red balls.

There was the funny, including the International Old Boys, a group of men from 20 nations who eagerly performed traditional Danish Gymnastics movements with aplomb if not polish, and Portugal’s Ginasio Clube Portuges, whose inventive routine was built around a pillowcase.

But the piece that will be talked about for the next four years was without a doubt the routine of Austria’s Zurcaroh Akrobatiktruppe, who performed in full tribal African costume. The troupe, including two small fliers with many World Gymnaestradas still in front of them, showed five minutes of high-flying, human pyramid-building Acrobatic Gymnastics fireworks, bringing spectators spontaneously to their feet in what might have been the greatest single round of applause at the 2015 World Gymnaestrada.

They lived. They laughed. Everyone loved it