Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for ancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the disco or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in the West had at least one dance hall, and almost always featured live musicians playing a range of music from strict tempo ballroom dance music to big band, swing and jazz. The early days of rock n' roll were briefly played out in dance halls before nightclubs took over.