Simone Arena (born 7 August 1991) is an Italian

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

r and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. Best known as former Italian Ballroom and Latin Champion, Arena joined the third series of the Belgian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''.

Early life

Arena was born in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, Italy. He has been dancing since the age of seven.

Amateur dancing career

By the age of sixteen Arena became the Vice Italian Latin Champion. He briefly partnered Maria Laureante for a short time in 2007. After that partnership dissolved her teamed up with Federica Zapulla. They enjoyed some success, finishing inside the top ten in the IDSF Open which took place in

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, Slovenia on 16 December 2007. Between 2009 and 2010, Arena partnered Malene Meihlen. Their most successful outing came in an IDSF International Open which took place in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, Denmark on 28 November 2009. He also teamed up with Slovakian dancer, Linda Manduchova for a time. He later partnered with fellow Italian dancer, Alessia Vernuccio. Their best result was a top three finish in the WDSF Open which took place in Ancona on 7 October 2012.

Professional dancing career

Arena joined in 2014 the Broadway production of ''

Burn the Floor Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in New York City and the West End of London, West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries w ...

'' touring in London's West End and around the world including China, Australia and Japan. 2023 marked Arena's tenth consecutive year as part of the group. In 2019, Arena was announced as part of the cast of ''Somnium: A Dancer's Dream'' with ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'' stars,

Katya Jones Katya Jones (born Ekaterina Andreevna Sokolova; rus, Екатерина Андреевна Соколова; 12 May 1989) is a Russian dancer and choreographer. She is best-known for being a professional dancer in the competition show ''Strictly ...

and Neil Jones. In 2020, Arena was announced to join the cast of

Giovanni Pernice Giovanni Pernice (born 5 September 1990) is an Italian professional dancer based in the United Kingdom, best known for his appearances on the British television show '' Strictly Come Dancing''. He is also an Italian Open Latin Dance Champion (201 ...

's 'This is Me' tour, however the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

''Dancing with the Stars''

Belgium

In December 2021, Arena joined the cast of the third series of the second incarnation (eighth overall) of the Belgian version of ''

''. He was partnered with artistic gymnast, Nina Derwael. On 12 February 2022, Derwael and Arena won the series.

Performances with Nina Derwael

Italy

Arena joined the Italian version of the show, '' Ballando con le Stelle'' for its seventeenth season as a professional dancer. He partnered TV presenter, Marta Flavi. The couple were the first to be eliminated from the competition. After the season ended, Arena spoke about his dissatisfaction with the overall production of the Italian version, stating he would not return for future editions.

Performances with Marta Flavi

Ireland

On 28 November 2023, Arena was announced as one of the new professional dancers of the seventh series of the Irish version of ''

''. He was partnered with '' RuPaul's Drag Race'' winner,

Blu Hydrangea Blu Hydrangea is the stage name of Joshua Cargill (born 15 February 1996), a Northern Irish drag queen from Belfast who is known for competing on the first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2019) and later winning the first season of '' RuPa ...

. They reached the final, finishing as joint runners-up to

Jason Smyth Jason Smyth (born 4 July 1987) is a Northern Irish sprint runner. He competes in the T13 disability sport classification as he is legally blind, with his central vision being affected by Stargardt's disease; he also competes in elite non-Par ...

Karen Byrne Karen Byrne (born 30 May 1992) is an Irish dancer and choreographer. She is known as being one of the professional dancers on the Irish version of Dancing with the Stars. Early life Byrne was born in Ballyfermot in Dublin. She has been dancin ...

. They broke the record of receiving the most perfect scores in a series, with 5. The previous record of 4 was held by Denise McCormack and Nina Carberry. They also received the most 10s (along with Carberry), with 18.

Performances with Blu Hydrangea

Personal life

Arena is in a relationship with ''

'' professional dancer,

Michelle Tsiakkas ''Strictly Come Dancing'' returned for its twentieth series with a launch show on 23 September 2022 on BBC One, with live shows beginning the following day on 24 September. The launch show was originally scheduled to be broadcast on 17 Septembe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arena, Simone 1989 births Living people Italian ballroom dancers People from Catania