As Robin Dunbar (he of Dunbar's Number) said on a recent BBC Radio4 Prog (this week can anyone suggest what it was called?)

One sure thing that creates a bond is when people: sing, dance and eat together. By that he meant sitting at the dining table, communal singing like Folk Clubs, and dancing together like they do at Ceilidhs. And he used the word Ceilidh to demonstrate what he was talking about.

Step dancing as a family/village entertainment where most people would have a go at it, fits this scenario.

Look around you and see how much community is going on. Who knows their neighbour that well? As is delineated by the Mudcat - our tribe (numbers dictated by the Dunbar Number) is defined by our interest these days, not our locality necessarily. My point in digression is that traditions like step dancing might have flourished independently and then died-out in some places and not others as culture evolved to what we have today.