Though they weren't around in Walsh's era, when the main attractions were aerial acrobatics and basic tumbling gymnastics, contemporary Gamma Phi staples like the Russian Swing, Wall Trampoline, Teeter Board and German Wheel will all be present and accounted for.

Of particular note is the Russian Swing, says Alouan, which has been completely overhauled and rebuilt, with custom design and construction all done here in town.

The swing, which facilitates high acrobatic jumps via swinging platform that rotates 360 degrees around the horizontal bar from which it is suspended, is now safer, says Alouan, as well as rigged to allow performers to reach even greater heights.

“We were able to hire a local welder construct, and we had a student studying engineering technology working with him, as well as a few of the coaches who talked it through the design. It was very much a collaboration, with a lot of trial and error involved -- it's not something you order out of a catalogue.”

Also on tap this year for the first time in over a decade is a thematic element developed through the entire performance -- in this case, the city of Chicago, with a little assist from the musical “Chicago.”