Volunteers performed, say, a special set of Neapolitan dances (11)

'dances' is the definition.
(tarantella is a kind of dance)

'volunteers performed say a special set of neapolitan' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'volunteers' could be 'ta' (abbreviation for Territorial Army) and 'ta' is present in the answer.
'say' could be 'tell' (synonyms) and 'tell' is found in the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the answer.
'special' could be 's' (common abbreviation as in Special Air Service) and 's' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ra' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?