Dance group supports South American artist (8)
I believe the answer is:
saraband
'dance' is the definition.
(saraband is a kind of dance)
'group supports south american artist' is the wordplay.
'group' becomes 'band' (band is a kind of group).
'supports' says to put letters next to each other (bottom letters provide a support for the top ones).
'south american' becomes 'sa'.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'sa'+'ra'='sara'
'band' after 'sara' is 'SARABAND'.
(Other definitions for saraband that I've seen before include "Stately dance" , "Old, courtly dance" , "Slow Spanish dance" , "dance music" .)