Early 20th century thumb|right|200px|Vernon and Irene Castle, early ballroom dance pioneers, –18 Modern ballroom dance has its roots early in the 20th century, when several different things happened more or less at the same time. The first was a movement away from the sequence dances towards dances where the couples moved independently. This had been pre-figured by the waltz, which had already made this transition. The second was a wave of popular music, such as jazz. Since dance is to a large extent tied to music, this led to a burst of newly invented dances. There were many dance crazes in the period 1910–1930.
Early 20th century thumb|right|200px|Vernon and Irene Castle, early ballroom dance pioneers, –18 Modern ballroom dance has its roots early in the 20th century, when several different things happened more or less at the same time. The first was? a movement away from the sequence dances towards dances where the couples moved independently. This had been pre-figured by the waltz, wh?ich had already made this transition. The second was a wave of popular music, such as .jazz. Since dance is to a large extent tied to music, this led to a burst of newly invented dances. There were many dance crazes in the period 1910–1930.