dolin was born in slinfold in sussex as sydney francis patrick chippendall healey-kay but was generally known as patrick kay or "pat" to his friends. he was the second of three sons of henry george kay (1852-1922) and his wife, helen maude chippendall healey (1869-1960), from dublin. he trained at serafina astafieva's school at the pheasantry in london's king's road. he joined sergei diaghilev's ballets russes in 1921, was a principal there from 1924, and was a principal with the vic-wells ballet in the 1930s. there he danced with alicia markova, with whom he went on to found the markova-dolin ballet and the london festival ballet.