The attitude and the way the cane is twirled (6)
I believe the answer is:
stance
'the attitude' is the definition.
(stance is a kind of attitude)
'the way the cane is twirled' is the wordplay.
'the way' becomes 's' (Compass direction - South).
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'is twirled' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'twirling' mean this).
't'+'cane'='tcane'
'tcane' with letters rearranged gives 'tance'.
's'+'tance'='STANCE'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for stance that I've seen before include "Position, viewpoint" , "Attitude (of body, mind)" , "Attitude - taken by a golfer?" , "Upright posture" , "Posture, standing position" .)