Dance with links to old prison footwear (4,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
ball and chain
'old prison footwear' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'dance with links' is the wordplay.
'dance' becomes 'ball' (ball is a kind of dance).
'with' becomes 'and'.
'links' becomes 'chain' (a chain is made up of links).
'ball'+'and'+'chain'='BALL AND CHAIN'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ball and chain that I've seen before include "Prisoner's restrictor" , "(Formerly) restraint hampering prisoner's movement" .)