Man or woman backing sailor's dance (5)
I believe the answer is:
samba
'dance' is the definition.
(Brazilian dance)
'man or woman backing sailor's' is the wordplay.
'man or woman' becomes 'sam' (unisex name).
'backing' says the letters should be written backwards.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'ab' back-to-front is 'ba'.
'sam'+'ba'='SAMBA'
(Other definitions for samba that I've seen before include "it was launched in Brazil" , "South American dance" , "Dance, originally from Brazil" , "moves from Brazil" , "Brazilian dance" .)