Expectations about the soft shoe shuffle (5)
I believe the answer is:
hopes
'expectations' is the definition.
(hope is a kind of expectation)
'about the soft shoe shuffle' is the wordplay.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano'**).
'shuffle' indicates an anagram.
'shoe' is an anagram of 'hoes'.
'p' put into 'hoes' is 'HOPES'.
(Other definitions for hopes that I've seen before include "Believes that good things may happen" , "Expectations" , "Aspirations, wishes" , "Desires and expects" , "Aspires" .)