There are some great books you could get about this topic. Fred Astaire actually had a lot to do with the evolution of dance on film, even how it was shot. He insisted that the audience could see the entire body, not just the dancer's face or feet. He and Gene Kelley moved dance on film forward to the very stilted-looking routines you saw in the early sound films. Check out the beginning of the film "That's Entertainment" to see what a late 1920s dance routine looked like--it's really funny.
There were and are many great film choreographers. Go to your library and ask for help in getting good resources about them.
