Steps taken from singular snake, heading off (5)
I believe the answer is:
samba
'steps' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'singular snake heading off' is the wordplay.
'singular' becomes 's' (abbreviation sometimes used in dictionaries).
'snake' becomes 'mamba' (mamba is a kind of snake).
'heading off' means to remove the first letter.
'mamba' with its initial letter taken away is 'amba'.
's'+'amba'='SAMBA'
'taken from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for samba that I've seen before include "Lively ballroom dance from Brazil" , "Dance, originally from Brazil" , "it was launched in Brazil" , "Dance music" , "This ambassador's > brisk steps" .)