There are songs, now, and dances about (7)
I believe the answer is:
ballads
'there are songs' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'now and dances about' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'now' could be 'ad' (AD, Anno Domini, as opposed to BC, Before Christ) and 'ad' is located in the answer.
'dances' could be 'balls' (ball is a kind of dance) and 'balls' is found within the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ballads that I've seen before include "Popular songs" , "Soppy songs!" .)