The dance is a known way of preserving the old martial arts, alas it mostly lost the martial intent.
http://www.shweir.com/saif_oo_terse.htm
The Druze people also perform a sword dance with long sabers but no buckler. To my best knowledge one of the last muslim (non-arab) people who carry on hard core traditional martial arts is the Adiga (Circassian/Cherkess).