Lucky Plush Dance Company: Punk Yankees will be testing how far copyright laws cover dance moves.

The dance group will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 20 and at 4 p.m. Jan. 21 in the Theatre of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Dwight Vaught, the assistant dean of the College of Arts & Humanities, said Lucky Plush Dance Company: Punk Yankees will push against the boundaries of copyright laws.

“The whole purpose of this particular show is to get you thinking about intellectual property,” Vaught said. “We talk about that a lot with the artist.”

Vaught said the idea of where the lines are with the ownership of dance moves and ideas are debated because it is hard to define those lines.

“If you made something like a computer, you can say this is copyrighted, you can’t use this,” Vaught said. “If Dan is a famous songwriter, and I use a snippet of his work, have I plagiarized?”

Dan Crews, director of patron services for the Doudna Fine Arts Center, said even groups that are said to be the most innovative have borrowed ideas.

“You would think the Rolling Stones were one of the most original groups, Keith (Richards) said where they took all of their stuff,” Crews said. “The beginnings of the Rolling Stones started with a Chicago-style blues; they were just copying what they heard on record.”

Crews said the performance will also include technology with the dance movements.

Crews said Lucky Plush Dance Company: Punk Yankees bridge the gap between technology and the stage.

“Usually we come out and tell the audience to turn off their phones, because we don’t want it to interfere with the performance,” Crews said. “But this is a situation where the artists encourage that use.”

Vaught said they use Internet, video and screens to add to the idea of plagiarism and intellectual property.

“Technology adds to that because anyone can put anything up on YouTube, and someone else can take a bit of it, and can just recreate the whole thing,” Vaught said.

Crews said audience members will like this performance because it is not something they will just watch.

“This is not a show you go to and just sit back and relax, you get involved,” Crews said.

Vaught said the Lucky Plush Dance Company: Punk Yankees will be giving a master class for the EIU Dancers and DanceLife, or the Jacqueline Bennett Dance Center.

“Our first goal is education,” Vaught said. “We want to bring in dancers to inspire them and introduce something different.”

Admission is $7 for students, $12 for Eastern employees and people over 62, and $15 for general admission. Students can pay for their tickets with their Panther Card chips.

Crews said they are happy to have Lucky Plush Dance Company: Punk Yankees because they are a unique group.

“It’s a dance program, but it’s not something we’ve ever done before, because it is interactive with the audience,” Crews said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812

or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.