I have been to lots of step shows.
I did a google search and found an article from Juilliard.
http://www.juilliard.edu/update/jour...ticles183.html
There are some interesting parallels and similarities among stepping, Irish step dancing, and tap dancing. The first time I went to see people practice step dancing I thought that it was going to be Irish step dancing like Riverdance. Imagine my surprise when I saw Kappa Alpha Psi and their canes. They were really impressive.
