Dance artists returned to join a musical group (8)
I believe the answer is:
saraband
'dance' is the definition.
(saraband is a kind of dance)
'artists returned to join a musical group' is the wordplay.
'artists' becomes 'RA's' (Royal Academicians abbreviation).
'returned' is a reversal indicator.
'to join' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'musical group' becomes 'band' (band is a kind of musical group).
'ras' in reverse letter order is 'sar'.
'sar'+'a'+'band'='SARABAND'
(Other definitions for saraband that I've seen before include "Slow Spanish dance" , "dance music" , "Old, courtly dance" , "Stately dance" .)