Vikas Arun

Vikas Arun gained notoriety during he summer of 2015 when he made it to the final 25 dancers for the famed show, So You Think You Can Dance. He beat out all of the other male tap dancers auditioning and a majority of the rest of the dancers in order to make it to the very end of Vegas week on the show's twelfth season. His facebook page has gained a large following with displays of encouragement and support from fans, including many Columbians.[1]

Vikas Arun, SEAS ’17, is a member of CATastrophe Dance Company (winner of the prestigious ACE Capezio Choreography Award) and toured the country with Celebrity Dance Conventions in 2014 and 2015 teaching tap dance. He is also a member of Chloe Arnold's Apartment 33, a famous tap dance company started by Columbia alumna Chloe Arnold, whose works has been featured by Beyoncé among others.

He is a guest member of the famed MUSE dance company based out of LA, and has received a contract offer from STOMP, one of the longest running and most profitable dance shows in the United States. He will also be featured in an upcoming Hollywood film called "Breaking Brooklyn". His major is Operations Research and his minor is Computer Science. Vikas has also been profiled in a wonderful HerCampus article. [2]

Hometown: Seattle, WA Dream Job: No idea yet but when that dream job comes along, I'll know it’s right! Go-to App: Snapchat—It’s an easy way to keep in touch with my friends across the country. Favorite TV Show: Shark Tank and So You Think You Can Dance

Vikas offers a unique viewpoint on the importance of how dance and engineering work together. “Tap dancing is all about musical precision. The best tap dancers are amazing because they can ‘speak’ clearly with their tap shoes. In relationship to the music, they know when to make sounds and when to sit quiet,” explains Vikas. “My engineering background helps me with overlapping disparate rhythm patterns. Studies have pointed to the fact that math and music use similar parts of the brain, and I guess I’m another example supporting that theory!” [3]

During the Spring 2016 semester Vikas won a King's Crown Leadership Excellence Award for Innovation & Enhancement and was the recipient of the Bernard Jaffe Prize for the Encouragement of Inventiveness in Engineering.

Vikas is also a prominent member of the Undergraduate Recruitement Committee (URC), which gives tours throughout Columbia's campus. He served as an engineering coordinators in 2014-15 and 2015-16, and assumed the role as a co-chair for the 2016-17 year. He was named most persuasive tour guide on campus.

Tags: Vikas Arun | URC | Class of 2017 | SEAS 2017 | SEAS Students