One of the rumors that Irish Step dancing developed the way it did (tight arms against the side)is because the style is a response to the British persecution during Ireland's desire for independance.

The English landlords frowned on dancing (and indeed, all forms of Irish culture) as subversive, but the tradition never truly disappeared. In the nineteenth century, the Irish diaspora spread Irish dance all over the world, especially to North America and Australia.


It has also been suggested that the English disapproval of the dancing lead to the upper body positioning. By keeping the hands down and upper body in a normal walking position, a person looking in at dancers through a window would see nothing especially out of the ordinary. This allowed the Irish to continue their dancing under the the English rule.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_dance

Sel
queen of the useless info