UCSD Raas Ruckus

We are so excited to present our first video for this year! Despite the restrictions and hard times this year, we had so much fun finding a way to keep our dancing alive. Our dancers had so much fun creating this video and bringing our vision to light. We hope you enjoy watching, click the link below for the full video https://youtu.be/L_YEwf1yxGM

Meet Pranathi Gutala! She graduated in 2019 and was on Ruckus for 4 years! She was Stage Production Chair from 2016-2017, Captain from 2017-2018 and Stage Production Chair 2018-2019! This might sound random, but some of my best and funniest memories on ruckus had to be the times after the competition and before the afterparty. Running between the hotel rooms, fixing each others makeup, ironing each others shirts, cramming props back into the boxes, taking dumb pictures with the trophy, and making sure everyone was getting enough pizza and time to pregame before getting on the bus. As insignificant as this seems, these are a few of the moments that really made it feel like ruckus was a family that won, lost, cried, celebrated, and shared so much more together.

Meet Vaishnavi Sridharan! She graduated in 2019 and was on Ruckus for 4 years! She was the Logistics Chair from 2016-2017, Captain from 2017-2018 and also from 2018-2019! I would say these are my top 3! 1. Winning first place at Rangeelo Raas 2019, because while it was unexpected, it also felt meant to be because we really put our whole hearts on stage - and we went to Disneyland the next day 2. RAS 2019 because it felt like the perfect sendoff to my 4 years on ruckus, a... last hurrah with my family (also we nearly blew away with our props the day before which just made it more worth it) 3. This isn’t a specific memory but even after 3 years of teaching newbies to dance, the feeling of watching them grow and improve and become amazing dancers will NEVER grow old :’) I love how proud I feel for everyone’s accomplishments, not just my own. See more

Meet Abinaya Muthusamy! She graduated in 2019 and was on Ruckus for 4 years. She was Stage Production Chair from 2016-2017, Captain from 2017-2018 and also 2018-2019! My favorite Ruckus memories are those last minute side stage speeches. They were never scripted, just straight from the heart simping over each other and reflecting on how far we’ve come as a team and a family. Eventually we’d hear applause for the team performing before us, panic in unison, then whisper-yell the Ruckus chant before taking our places in the wings. The amount of love and pure adrenaline I felt in those 10 minutes was euphoric and I can’t wait for the next generation of Ruckus to experience that.

Meet Neelesh Kris! He is currently a fourth year & this will be his 4th year on Ruckus! He was Captain from 2019-2020 and is currently the Senior Advisor for 2020-2021! Being on Ruckus has really defined my college experience- some of my closest friends, my favorite memories, my coolest adventures all came from being a part of this team. And yeah, every competition we went to and every trophy we won was amazing, but even every night I got to just hang out with my friend...s at practice was special. Favorite Ruckus Memory? My favorite Ruckus memory was probably my first practice as a captain. Getting to introduce a new set of people to this team and this dance that I had fallen in love with was really really cool. Best performance memory? My favorite performance of all time has to be dancing at RAS Nationals. Dancing on stage is always such a rush, but for that final performance of the season every single person on stage was dancing their heart out and having a blast. The best part was that it wasn’t just our dancers-I remember looking out into the audience and seeing all of our friends and alumni who had come to support us on their feet, cheering and dancing along with us.

Meet Joyaan Bhesania! She graduated in 2020 and was a part of Ruckus for 2 years! She was also the Finance Chair from 2018-2019! "My favorite ruckus memory has to be performing RAS surf town year. I was crying the entire week because I didn't want it to be the last time we all got to dance together and bring our little spot of sunny san diego to life. But once I actually got on stage, I'd never been happier to just enjoy it all in the moment and scream and cheer and smile and dance and have the most amazing time with all of my best friends right there."

Meet Parth Shah! He graduated in 2020 and was a part of Ruckus for 3 years. He was the Production Chair from 2018-2019 and Captain from 2019-2020! "My favorite ruckus memory is from surf town year, which is the first year I was heavily involved in making props since I was production chair, when I got to see what our set looked like on stage for the first time. All the work felt so worth after seeing how amazing our stage looked lit up by the stage lights."