06/14/2026
We are excited for this year's TWO DAY TIRE MACHÈT WORKSHOP! Come learn about the Haitian art of machete fencing with Master Instructor Michael Dylan Rogers.
This event is accessible at all levels of skill and fitness; all proceeds go to support the Avril family in Haiti.
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In Haiti, the traditional art of machete fencing goes by many names, among them Tire Machèt (“Pulling Machetes”). Tire Machèt has roots in the Haitian Revolution, when the revolutionaries were often forced to fight with fewer guns than soldiers. Its combination of ancestral African combat systems proved highly effective both in battle and as a means of individual self-defense.
Professor Avril first asked his student Michael Rogers to introduce people "on the other side" to Haitian fencing nearly 20 years ago. Since that time, the Haitian Fencing Project has been dedicated to promoting and teaching this system worldwide; Michael has developed an intensive curriculum that can teach the basics of the Avril family system over the course of two 7-hour sessions.
About Michael Dylan Rogers, Master Instructor, Project Coordinator: Michael is an assistant professor of humanities at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. He first traveled to Haiti in 2002 and has spent over four years living and working there. He is the only non-Haitian known to have mastered the art of Haitian machete fencing, and is featured in the documentary short Papa Machete, which he worked on as a consultant from concept through post-production. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge.
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