Dona Ganguly (centre) at the Indian Pavilion of the World Expo Shanghai 2010 on Monday. (Madhumita Bhattacharyya)

From Chowrasta to China. That is the route Dona Ganguly — not Mrs Sourav Ganguly — and her students have taken to represent the country at the India Pavilion in the ongoing World Expo Shanghai 2010.

“Apart from one girl who is from Park Circus, we are all pretty much from Behala Chowrasta,” smiled the Odissi dancer and teacher, leading a group of seven from her school Diksha Manjari.

Away from the world where she is the former first lady of Indian cricket — Sourav Ganguly’s name not being mentioned once in the introduction to the dancers for the cricket-ignorant Chinese — Dona was at complete ease, keen to promote the efforts of her students and her school. She has come to Shanghai — her first assignment on having been empanelled with the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) — to do nothing more than dance. “We are professionals, but I do this because I love it,” said Dona, who spent many an evening at Eden last month cheering on her husband in KKR colours with daughter Sana by her side.

“I wanted to bring Sana here with me, and I went to her school and asked if she could get leave. But I had taken her to London last time, and they said that now since her father isn’t playing, as there is no IPL, he can take care of her. And there is only so much school she should miss,” admitted the mother of the eight-year-old who, she proudly pointed out, has been doing well in Odissi.

Her young team “between the ages of 15 and 25” was “too excited”, said Dona, dressed in a blue and red kotki, busy directing last-minute preparations in the greenroom before taking the open-air stage on Monday afternoon.

“We have travelled for the first time on official passports given to those who are representing the country. That in itself is a great feeling. It’s such an honour,” smiled Dona.

She and her students did Calcutta proud, part of the first event held at India’s 4,000sq m offering at the fair, held once every four to five years. In the shade of the “biggest bamboo dome in the world” at the heart of the Indian Pavilion, Dona’s students performed three pieces to Rabindrasangeet at the request of the Indian consulate in Shanghai. Then she led the way in three classical Odissi pieces.

They were only supposed to demonstrate Odissi through their one-week stay, but improvised for the 149th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, who visited Shanghai twice in the 1920s and has quite a local fan following.

Not only did the audience lap it up, some hung around longer still to take pictures with the happily obliging performers in full dance regalia.

Accompanied by her mother, who assists with make-up, dancers Raghunath, Baisakhi, Ishani, Sulagna, Divyanjana, Tanya and Sanghamitra and technician Joydeb Das who used to be with her guru Pandit Kelucharan Mahapatra, Dona will next travel to Singapore for a show. After that, it is family time, with a holiday in London with Sourav and Sana.

In China, a land where Sourav has not yet taken guard, the cricket star may well be considered Mr Dona Ganguly by at least a few.