Changes in urban living and in class distinctions fostered the unprecedented popularity of dancing between 1910 and 1914. The need for urban recreational centers for masses of people meant that enterprising capitalists increasingly opened dance halls and dance academies.So it would seem that the initial force behind the social dance movement was the simple need for something to do, a way to relax after work and just have fun. These venues were in part possible because of the growing popularity of 'rag dances', which were based on either the one-step or the two-step, and originated in black culture (thus prompting some of the more racist fears propagated by opponents of the movement, such as 'white slavery').
An interesting shift in the way the general public danced happened at about this time. The 'rag dances' that were beginning to become popular were transformed by exhibition ballroom teams into such dances as the Argentine Tango and the Hesitation Waltz. Exhibition teams were instrumental in creating a nation-wide dance mania, as they performed at many Cabarets across the nation, showing their dances to many more people than could have seen them in the past. A unique process emerged from this, with the general populace imitating and modifying to the best of their ability the new dances they saw performed, and the teams incorporating the new moves that emerged into their dances. This was an important change, as it allowed the new dances to change much more rapidly than dances ever had in the past. Another aspect of these dances was important in popularizing them - that they were inherently simple. Dances in the 18th and 19th century were much more difficult to learn, as anyone who has watched movies set in that time (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?) would imagine. The newer dances of the 20th century, by contrast, allowed much room for improvisation and were easy to dance even for beginners. Thus the social dance of the early 20th century became a truly social dance, no longer limited to the upper class.
