Simone Arena (born 7 August 1991) is an Italian

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

r and

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

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

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''.

Early life

Arena was born in

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. 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 The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), formerly the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF), is the international governing body of dancesport and Para dancesport, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Internat ...

Open which took place in

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

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

on 16 December 2007. Between 2009 and 2010, Arena partnered Malene Meihlen. Their most successful outing came in an

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, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 28 November 2009. He also teamed up with

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

n 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 The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), formerly the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF), is the international governing body of dancesport and Para dancesport, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Internat ...

Open which took place in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

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 ...

'' 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'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' stars,

Katya Jones Katya Jones (born Ekaterina Andreevna Sokolova; ; 12 May 1989) is a Russians, Russian dancer and choreographer. She is best known for being a professional dancer in the competition show ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which she won in 2017 with her ...

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 (2012 ...

's 'This is Me' tour, however the tour was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

''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 Nina Derwael ( ; born 26 March 2000) is a Belgian artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (2018, 2019), and a three-time European champion (2017, 2018 & 2025) on the uneven bars. She also is the 2019 Europ ...

. 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 ''

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'' winner,

Blu Hydrangea Blu Hydrangea (born 15 February 1996) is the stage name of Joshua Cargill, a People of Northern Ireland, Northern Irish drag queen from Belfast who competed the RuPaul's Drag Race UK series 1, first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' in 2019, a ...

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

Jason Smyth Jason Smyth (born 4 July 1987) is an Irish retired 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-Paral ...

Karen Byrne Karen Byrne (born 30 May 1992) is an Irish dancer and choreographer. She is known as being a judge and, previously, a professional dancer on the Irish version of Dancing with the Stars. Early life Byrne was born in Ballyfermot in Dublin. She ...

. 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 ''Red Rock'' is an Irish soap opera, set in the fictional seaside town of Red Rock, that aired on Virgin Media One from 2015 to 2020. Focusing on the activities of the detectives of the local Garda Síochána station and townsfolk, three serie ...

and

Nina Carberry Nina Carberry (born 21 July 1984) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Midlands–North-West since the 2024 European Parliament election. She is a former champion amateur National Hunt jock ...

. They also received the most 10s (along with Carberry), with 18. Arena returned for the eighth series in 2025, where he was partnered with ''

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'' actress, Yasmin Seky.

Performances with Blu Hydrangea

Performances with Yasmin Seky

Personal life

Arena is in a relationship with ''

'' professional dancer, Michelle Tsiakkas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arena, Simone 1989 births Living people 21st-century Italian dancers Italian ballroom dancers Italian male dancers People from Catania