In the classic holiday flick 'White Christmas' there's a weirdly incongruous number called "Choreography" where Danny Kaye dances and sings about choreography and how it's inferior to dance and is ruining at least that aspect of theater. Here's a link to the song for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-cXP1uDFpA
Can someone explain the distinction between dance and choreography at this time (to my mind every song in the movie is choreographed) and why Irving Berlin and the rest of the movie's producers would want to go out of their way to dump on choreography in the middle of Christmas movie?
The number is really a parody of the Beat Generation (i.e. Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg) that gained popularity with some younger people after WWII, mostly in major cities. They were heavily influenced by non-traditional artistic movements such as Surrealism and Modernism; hence the incongruent notes and exaggerated body movements, and Danny Kaye in a solid color outfit with a beret.
In popular culture of the time it was common to parody the Beat Generation. The word "beatnik" grew out of this kind of attitude, a term which members of the Beat Generation resented. They were portrayed as pseudo-intellectuals who used big words in place of small ones to make their efforts seem more sophisticated, such as calling their body movements "choreography" instead of the simpler "dancing." This was an unfair stereotype of the Beat culture, but parodies often exaggerate a point for humor.