Last week, Lena Dunham made a bold proclamation - that we are in a "golden age" of dance music videos thanks to recent releases like "Chandelier" by Sia and the "We Exist" by Arcade Fire. (As Dunham pointed out, these are both choreographed by Ryan Heffington).

It's true, we have been seeing a lot more dance music videos lately, and they've been getting a lot of attention. Everybody likes a good old song and dance, so it's as good a time as any to take a look at one of the most famous dance music videos of all time, "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" by Beyonce, directed by Jake Nava.

It's worth mentioning up front that this video has the dubious distinction of being the music video that Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift over at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. "Single Ladies" was up for Best Female Video, and it lost out to "You Belong To Me" by Swift. Kanye was so angry he just jumped up on stage and told everyone who should have won.

(This video was also the subject of a relatively well-known SNL skit where Beyonce's dancers were dudes - Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg, and Bobby Moynihan.)

Fortunately, I think "Single Ladies" isn't remembered for being so good it cased Kanye to embarrass himself. Instead, it's remembered as just being fantastic as well as a rare example of true minimalism and performance in a modern pop video.

Shot on a white cyc with some flashing lights, the video is really only a dance number - Beyonce as the lead dancer plus Ebony Williams and Ashley Everett as her dancing companions. There are no props other than a robotic glove that Beyonce wears. Pieced together from multiple takes, the video seems to be one, long athletic feat, complete with a winded Beyonce at the end.

If you'll recall, Beyonce was in the middle of a multiple personalities stunt for her new album - I Am .. Sasha Fierce. This always seemed dangerously close to Chris Gaines territory to me, but nevertheless the album was a massive success, and Beyonce ended up with singles that were either from her softer personality or "Sasha Fierce" who was, as you might guess, totally fierce.

"Single Ladies" is part of a double music video feature then - both it and "If I Were A Boy" were filmed around the same time by Jake Nava. "If I Were A Boy" features a complex police narrative and obviously cost a lot more money. "Single Ladies" was the Sasha Fierce single. The videos even premiered on the same day.

There are a few dancing references that make their way into the video, the most prominent being the Bob Fosse choreographed "Mexican Breakfast" dance routine. Take a look - this is what people used to watch on TV and they though it was normal:

Recognize anything? Weirdly enough, Beyonce took notes from these three ladies dressed in whatever it is they are dressed in (that's Bob Fosse's wife as the lead dancer, by the way) and adapted and updated it for "Single Ladies" with the choreographers Frank Gaston Jr and JaQuel Knight.

You may also recognize this dance number from this video as well.

Another element in this video is something called J-Setting. As far as I can tell, J-Setting is just mimicking someone else's dance moves. I'm not sure how that differs from just dancing in unison but here is a video of two dudes showing off some J-Setting:

So what was it about this video that makes it so well-liked and well-remembered? Maybe it's the minimalism, the great dancing, and the draw of Beyonce. Maybe it's the robot glove.

But maybe it's something that all great dance music videos share that isn't really explainable. What makes watching Maddy Ziegler or Robyn so much fun in videos like "Chandelier" and "Call Your Girlfriend"? Watching people dance is as old as entertainment, and when a combination of music, dancer, and choreography come together in the right way, people go nuts over it.

Kanye went nuts over it, apparently. After his MTV VMA incident, he exiled himself to Hawaii and recorded an album called My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. If you're a fan of Kanye West, you owe this video a debt of gratitude. What did Taylor Swift do? Well, this. Now I'm torn.

Adam Fairholm is the co-founder and lead developer of IMVDb. You can find him on twitter at @adamfairholm.