Dorna was raised in south London and considers her Iranian heritage, and its celebratory culture, to have established her love for movement and dance. She started taking dance classes at the age of 5, then at 17 joined The Brit School where she was introduced to contemporary dance. Alongside this, she worked with Ben Duke in The Place’s youth company, Shift.
At 19 Dorna joined London Contemporary Dance School where she performed choreographed works by James Cousins, Rafael Bonachela and Ohad Naharin, as well as performed improvisations led by Rick Nodine and Hagit Yakira. In her second year, she joined Definitives dance company. Between graduating from LCDS and joining Verve Dorna has participated in a DV8 development workshop working with Lloyd Newson, Ermira Goro and Hannes Langolf.
