Sailors paid, oddly, in anticipation for dance (8)
I believe the answer is:
hornpipe
'dance' is the definition.
(hornpipe is a kind of dance)
'sailors paid oddly in anticipation' is the wordplay.
'sailors' becomes 'rn' (abbreviation for Royal Navy).
'oddly' means one should take alternating letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'anticipation' becomes 'hope' (hope is a kind of anticipation).
The alternate letters of 'paid' are 'pi'.
'rn'+'pi'='rnpi'
'rnpi' put into 'hope' is 'HORNPIPE'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hornpipe that I've seen before include "Lively old sailors' dance" , "Lively solo dance associated with sailors" , "Obsolete instrument: naval dance" , "piece of music for an > old dance" , "Lively jig" .)