University college dance is oddly lifeless to begin with (7)
I believe the answer is:
balliol
'university college' is the definition.
'Balliol' can be an answer for 'college' (Balliol College, Oxford). I'm unsure of the 'university' bit.
'dance is oddly lifeless to begin with' is the wordplay.
'dance' becomes 'ball' (ball is a kind of dance).
'to begin with' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'is oddly lifeless' is 'iol'.
'ball'+'iol'='BALLIOL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for balliol that I've seen before include "Wycliffe and Jowett were both Masters of this Oxford college" , "C13 Oxford college" .)