At the end of the 19th century, Water Ballet emerged. The first recorded competition was in 1891 in Berlin, Germany. Many swim clubs were formed around that time, and the sport simultaneously developed within several countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the USA.

Ironically Water Ballet was a sport performed by men in its first days, it quickly became a women’s sport because the nature of the physical movements are more suitable to the female physique. In 1907, Australian Annette Kellerman popularised the sport when she performed in a glass tank as an underwater ballerina in New York.

In 1924, the first competition in North America was in Montreal, with Peg Seller as the first champion. Other important pioneers for the sport are Beulah Gundling, Käthe Jacobi, Marion Kane Elston, Dawn Bean, Billie MacKellar, Teresa Anderson and Gail Johnson. Many of the competitions in those days were still done in lakes and rivers.