Charlie learnt to dance for chief (7)
I believe the answer is:
central
'chief' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'charlie learnt to dance' is the wordplay.
'charlie' becomes 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'to dance' indicates anagramming the letters (letters must dance around).
'learnt' is an anagram of 'entral'.
'c'+'entral'='CENTRAL'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for central that I've seen before include "Key" , "Every answer here has one such letter" , "Focal" , "Most important, principal" , "Extremely important" .)