Topless dance in exotic sun shades (7)
I believe the answer is:
nuances
'shades' is the definition.
('nuance' can be a synonym of 'shade')
'topless dance in exotic sun' is the wordplay.
'topless' means to remove the first letter.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'exotic' is an anagram indicator.
'dance' with its first letter removed is 'ance'.
'sun' is an anagram of 'nus'.
'ance' inserted within 'nus' is 'NUANCES'.
(Other definitions for nuances that I've seen before include "Subtleties" , "Subtle differences" , "Subtle distinctions or variations" , "subtle shades" , "Fine shades (of meaning)" .)