Hot work at the dance (3)
I believe the answer is:
hop
'the dance' is the definition.
(hop is a kind of dance)
'hot work' is the wordplay.
'hot' becomes 'h'.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'h'+'op'='HOP'
'at' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hop that I've seen before include "Climbing plant used to flavour beer (3)" , "Dried flower; jump" , "Move as a frog" , "Jump; dance" , "Spring" .)