They very much were; there is a reason why the vaudevillians were all poor immigrants and why much of the modern entertainment industry was established by entrepreneurs/conmen running away to California to escape Thomas Edison.
Not caring about what others think you look like is about as close as you can get to a definition of “cool”!
If you’re a young white male worried about being seen dancing because of a stereotype that’s a problem with you; dance is human heritage and everyone’s allowed to do it. I genuinely believe the whole “white people can’t dance!” thing is rooted in white people being self-conscious because they’ve been dancing to black music for the last 100 years instead of waltzing to the classics, not to mention the comparatively censorious attitude towards dance in White America versus Black America. Be the change etc. etc.