Some of the earliest forms of jazz dance steps is seen the cakewalk. It’s a dance that developed in the mid-19th century by Blacks before and after emancipation in the South that originated as a satire on white ballroom dances. The twist is that it became a popular stage act and a ballroom craze itself around 1900. Vernon and Irene Castle introduced it to white audiences in the teens. The Castle’s Cakewalk is sort of modernized waltz.