Cleric is hopeless at first in dance (6)
I believe the answer is:
bishop
'cleric' is the definition.
(type of cleric)
'is hopeless at first in dance' is the wordplay.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'dance' becomes 'bop' (bopping is a kind of dancing).
The initial letter of 'hopeless' is 'h'.
'is'+'h'='ish'
'ish' going inside 'bop' is 'BISHOP'.
(Other definitions for bishop that I've seen before include "High-ranking clergyman" , "one of four beginning on board" , "Board member" , "Diagonal board mover" , "He wears the mitre and carries the crozier" .)