Arvelo was born in Helsinki. Arvelo attended the first course of the Helsinki Theatre Academy in 1943 and also graduated with a master's degree in romance philology from the University of Helsinki.
Traditional Finnish gymnastics has a long history. The first women’s gymnastics club, Gymnastikföreningen för Fruntimmer i Helsingfors, was founded in 1876, only a year after the foundation of the first men’s gymnastics club.