Making a copy of a copy is never a good idea. With each press of the button, the image grows muddier, less distinct, until in the end it is not possible to discern a glimmer of the original.

“Spirit of the Dance” is billed as the successor to the immensely popular “Lord of the Dance” and “Riverdance,” which updated traditional Irish step dancing and made Michael Flatley an international star. “Spirit of the Dance” kicked off the Maine Center for the Arts’ 1998-99 season Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Univeristy of Maine.

“Spirit” is a muddy, hodgepodge of Celtic dance, ballet, jazz and tap that never truly defines itself and is so far removed from its predecessors that it’s hard to call them relatives. There is the thread of a love story that is supposed to knit all of the production’s different dance styles together, but the authors dropped a stitch somewhere. It is never clear whether this Spirit, a ballet dancer dressed in white, is a real woman or represents the muse that drives dancers to their art.

None of the dance in this show is pure anything — every ballet step, every jazz number, every tap dance is a poor stepchild of the original. Instead of performing the complex and fiery Flamenco in its traditional form, the show’s choreographers combine tap, jazz, modern and Irish step dancing. The result looks like the Sharks and the Jets. The two gangs from “West Side Story” have been time warped into the wrong musical. But being good troupers, they just keep moving their feet.

Each number has a color theme. For the “Flamenco Fiesta,” the lights bathe the stage in a brilliant orange. The men don blaze-orange T-shirts while the women adorn their hair with silk flowers and flash glowing tangerine underskirts each time they twirl. Their tightfitting, pumpkin-colored tops catch the spotlights arcing over the stage, sometimes sweeping across the audience.

Every new dance brings new costumes for the women. All are short, sequined and glitzy. One is designed to show off their black hip-hugger panties and belly buttons as they spin. The men stick to black pants, trading T-shirts that match the color theme.

There is no star of this production, but a few dancers do step out of the chorus line to sing using head mikes, or to perform a blessedly short solo. There are a couple of original pop-style songs, including a title theme, that, in the finale, is combined with a twisted rendering of “Danny Boy” that is so forced it brings tears of laughter rather than the traditional mournful sobs.

“Spirit of the Dance” is really nothing more than a glitzy dance recital. The music, along with the “enhanced” tapping sounds, are recorded. It is glitz without glamour and mediocre enough to succeed off-the-strip in Las Vegas.

Since opening 12 years ago, the MCA has kicked off each season with a gala fund-raising event. Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma played at the first gala in 1986, and last year Tony Bennett performed. In a way, the event has come to symbolize the beginning of the social and cultural season in the Bangor region. Saturday night’s dinner and performance was sold out.

Since its inception, the center has prided itself on bringing to its stage the finest performing artists on the local, national and international scene. However, if it is going to bring in Las Vegas-style performers, it really ought to put slot machines in the lobby.