Weapon dances in general, and knife dances in particular, exist in most cultures throughout the world. The role of the knife in the dance, and the function of the dance itself vary from culture to culture, and from dance to dance. A quick search on youtube, for instance, will bring up the following examples:
There are various Cypriot dances which utilize particular objects (I suppose they are no longer objects when utilized in the dance ritual - and one may wonder as to whether they are even to be called instruments). These include dances with sickles, sieves, and glasses.
Contrary to the previous three, the knife dance is not often danced for tourists. In fact, I could not find any recordings of either performances, or the music that accompanies it. This rendition by Halaris just doesn't seem right:
[I'm not sure about this, but] it's more likely that the music that accompanied the knife dance is the same as that which accompanies the sickle and sieve dances. A strikingly similar tune accompanies the Lesbian knife dance:
(The tunes of other knife dances, such as this one from Pontus, or these two from Konya and Thrace, vaguely remind me of some Cypriot melodies, but I think that's coincidental, or even my imagination.)
It is customary (as was in antiquity) for many knife dances in the region to be representations of violent struggle. Yet, I've heard, the Cypriot knife dance, which was performed at weddings and other festive occasions, was sometimes the occasion for real bloodshed, and apparently one knew (if one was 'sensible'), in particular villages, to leave before it started.
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