Dances with character like M on film locations back to back (8)

'dances' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.

'character like m on film locations back to back' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'character' could be 'mu' (Greek letter) and 'mu' is present in the answer.
'film' could be 'et' (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) and 'et' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'with' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?