Former copper seems awkward in dances (6-3)

I believe the answer is:

excuse-mes

'dances' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'former copper seems awkward' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'copper' becomes 'Cu' (chemical symbol).
'awkward' is an anagram indicator.
'seems' is an anagram of 'semes'.
'ex'+'cu'+'semes'='EXCUSE-MES'

'in' acts as a link.

(Another definition for excuse-mes that I've seen is " dances".)

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