Never Dance Alone
| Never Dance Alone | |
|---|---|
 Never Dance Alone official poster | |
| Genre | Modern, inspiration, comedy-drama |
| Created by | Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited |
| Starring | Flora Chan Carman Lee Rachel Lee Gloria Yip Angie Cheong Fennie Yuen Elvina Kong Lawrence Cheng Lawrence Ng Eliza Sam Steven Cheung Luk Wing-kuen Joe Cheng Koo Ming-wah Rosanne Lui |
| Opening theme | "星斗群" by Shirley Kwan & Mag Lam |
| Country of origin | Hong Kong |
| Original language | Cantonese |
| No. of episodes | 32 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Joe Chan Eric Tsang |
| Camera setup | Multi camera |
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Production company | TVB |
| Original release | |
| Network | Jade HD Jade |
| Release | 21 April – 1 June 2014 |
| Never Dance Alone: | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 女人俱樂部 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 女人俱乐部 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Ladies Club | ||||||||||
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Never Dance Alone (Chinese: 女人俱樂部); filmed under the working title "Aerobic Girls" (Chinese: Aerobic Girls 舞室保衛戰), is a Hong Kong television modern inspiration comedy-drama series produced and broadcast by domestic broadcaster TVB in 2014.
Synopsis
The series revolves around a group of six women: Siu-Sze, Julie, Akina, Yuen Chau, Jenny, and Cyndi, with regular flashbacks to their secondary school days in mid-1980s Hong Kong. The school is named St. Laurent Girls' Secondary School, a pun on the French designer Yves Saint Laurent (Yves' Chinese name is translated as sing3 lo4 laan4 in Cantonese, which is also a pun on TVB's veteran actress Helena Law Lan.) During their secondary school days, the six women formed a tight-knit dancing group called "M Club", based on the theory of menstrual synchrony, as well as a desire and hope for other "M"s in life in the years to come: good memories, marriage, and wealth (money).
Due to various events, as well as progression in life, the six women drifted away. Before that happened, the group mocked and eventually kicked out another woman: Diana, who then went on to hold a grudge against the rest of M Club.
Over two decades after their graduation, the women lead different lives. Siu-Sze is a housewife, as well as Akina. Yuen Chau works for the Hong Kong Government, while having an affair with a prospective chief executive candidate who is also her boss. Jenny initially worked as an airline hostess, but eventually quit to care for her mother, who suffered a stroke. Julie became obsessed with money, and was set to marry the son of a wealthy New Territories tribal elder until she discovered he is gay. Meanwhile, Cyndi continued with her passion for dancing, and operates a dance studio that is ailing.
Through happenstance, Cyndi reunited with Julie and Siu-Sze, and managed to bring the entire M Club back together through a stint at a psychiatric hospital, with Siu-Sze and others reuniting to help preserve Cyndi's dance studio. This helped the women rediscover their dream, as well as their purpose in life.
Production
Great effort was made in recruiting the two main casts: the modern cast, as well as their counterpart during the characters' secondary school days. TV host Eric Tsang, who produced the series in his producer debut, used his personal connections to assemble a cast of former TVB artists for the modern cast, most of whom have not appeared in a TVB series for a long time. The younger cast was matched for physical resemblance and the ability to portray the characters during their secondary school days.
Cast
Main characters
- Flora Chan as Diana Yung
- Jeannie Chan as teenage Diana Yung
- Carman Lee as Mo Siu-Sze
- Anjaylia Chan as teenage Mo Siu-Sze
- Rachel Lee as Julie Chu
- Venus Wong as teenage Julie Chu
- Gloria Yip as Akina Leung
- Kandy Wong as teenage Akina Leung
- Angie Cheong as Jenny Hui
- Winki Lai as teenage Jenny Hui
- Fennie Yuen as Luk Yuen-Chau
- Cheronna Ng as teenage Luk Yuen-Chau
- Elvina Kong as Cyndi Law
- Annice Ng as teenage Cyndi Law
- Lawrence Ng as Alan Yiu, Diana's ex-husband.
- Matthew Ho as teenage Alan Yiu
- Eliza Sam as Carrie Tong, originally named "Lorelei" and Julie's biological daughter, but estranged shortly after her birth.
- Koo Ming-wah as Yue Dai Hung
Other characters
Siu Sze's family
- Lawrence Cheng as Wong Kwok-Leung, Siu-Sze's husband
- Heidi Lee as Wong Ho, Siu-Sze's daughter
- Miu Gam Fung as Wong Chiu Wing Mui, Siu-Sze's mother-in-law
- Steven Cheung as Mo Chi-Kin, Siu-Sze's little brother and Carrie Tong's boyfriend
Jenny's Family
- Rosanne Lui as Hui Sin, Jenny's mother
- Luk Wing from FAMA as Fok Gam Fai, Jenny's boyfriend
Julie's Family
- Joe Cheng as Robert Poon, Julie's husband and Carrie's biological father
- Amigo Choi as teenage Robert Poon
- Pal Sinn as Lek Lek, Julie's ex-fiance.
- King Kong Lee as Tim, Lek Lek's assistant and lover.
Miscellaneous characters
- Anderson Junior as Law Fook-Chuen, Cyndi's half-brother.
- Dolby Kwan as teenage Law Fook-Chuen
- Patrick Dunn as LY Lee, Luk Yuen-Chau's supervisor, secret lover, and immediate supervisor. A prospective candidate for Hong Kong's chief executive.
- Lily Poon as Mrs. Lee, LY Lee's legitimate wife.
- Alan Wan as Jason, Carrie's friend.
- Brian Burrell as Dr. House, Akina's boyfriend.
- Eric Tsang as himself, appearing in the finale as a television producer to ask Siu-Sze to write a script for a TV series based on their experience (essentially, a script for Never Dance Alone)
Viewership ratings
| Week | Episodes | Date | Average Points | Peaking Points |
| 1 | 01－05 | 21–25 April 2014 | 26 | 28 |
| 2 | 06－10 | 28 April – 2 May 2014 | 24 | 26 |
| 3 | 11－15 | 5–9 May 2014 | 25 | 28 |
| 4 | 16－20 | 12–16 May 2014 | 25 | 27 |
| 5 | 21－25 | 19–23 May 2014 | 26 | 28 |
| 6 | 26－30 | 26–30 May 2014 | 25 | 27 |
| 31－32 | 1 June 2014 | 27 | 31 |