Modern dance is often considered to have emerged as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical [[ballet]], although historians have suggested that socioeconomic changes in both the United States and Europe helped to initiate shifts in the dance world. In America, increasing [[industrialization]], the rise of a middle class (which had more disposable income and free time), and the decline of [[Victorian morality|Victorian social structuresstrictures]] led to, among other changes, a new interest in health and physical fitness.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kurth|first1=P. |title=Isadora: A sensational life |url=https://archive.org/details/isadorasensation00kurt |url-access=registration|date=2001 |publisher=Little, Brown & Co. |location=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isadorasensation00kurt/page/28 28–29]}}</ref> "It was in this atmosphere that a 'new dance' was emerging as much from a rejection of social structures as from a dissatisfaction with ballet."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Legg |first1=Joshua |title=Introduction to Modern Dance Techniques |date=2011 |publisher=Princeton Book Company |location=Hightstown, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-87127-3253 |page=1}}</ref> During that same period, "the champions of physical education helped to prepare the way for modern dance, and [[gymnastic]] exercises served as technical starting points for young women who longed to dance."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Jack |title=Art Without Boundaries: The world of modern dance |url=https://archive.org/details/artwithoutbounda0000ande |url-access=registration |date=1997 |publisher=University of Iowa Press |location=Iowa City |page=[https://archive.org/details/artwithoutbounda0000ande/page/8 8]}}</ref> [[Women's college]]s began offering "aesthetic dance" courses by the end of the 1880s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McPherson |first1=Elizabeth |title=The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, 1900-1995 |date=2008 |publisher=The Edwin Mellen Press |location=Lewisto n|page=5}}</ref> [[Emil Rath]], who wrote at length about this emerging art form at the time stated, <blockquote>"Music and rhythmic bodily movement are twin sisters of art, as they have come into existence simultaneously...today we see in the artistic work of Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and others the use of a form of dancing which strives to portray in movements what the music master expresses in his compositions—interpretative dancing."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rath |first1=Emil |title=Aesthetic Dancing |url=https://archive.org/details/stheticdancing00rath |date=1914 |publisher=A. S. Barnes Company |location=New York |page=v-vi}}</ref></blockquote>
