Welcomes You To

*MODERN DANCE @ DFA*

“Sharon Skepple’s gloriously weighted solo dancing are pungent reminders of the electrifying revolutionary contributions modern dance made to human expression during the period in which Graham was its chief exponent.”

-D.J. McDONALD, Berkshire Eagle

Sharon Skepple Mayfield (Principal Soloist/ Instructor/Bessie Award Winner) was born in Antigua, West Indies and raised in St. Croix US Virgin Island, where she began her studies in dance with the Caribbean Dance Company under the tutelage of Monty Thompson. Skepple Mayfield studied as a scholarship recipient and graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) in 1989 under the guidance of Dianne Markham, Mable Robinson, Richard Kuch and Richard Gain. During her final year at NCSA, Skepple attended a summer workshop conducted by Garth Fagan Dance and caught the attention of Garth Fagan as a promising dancer. Impressed by her energy, Fagan offered her a position with Garth Fagan Dance in 1988.

After studying the Fagan technique, Skepple was promoted to principal soloist in 1990. Fagan has created major roles for her, including Telling a Story, Moth Dreams, Two Pieces of One: Green, which won Skepple a New York Dance and Performance Award “Bessie” in 1999. As a principal soloist with Garth Fagan Dance, Skepple has performed with Don Pullen, Keith Jarrett, D.D. Jackson, Carlos Ward, and Billy Bang. Skepple also appeared on the worldwide premier of Griot New York, aired on PBS’s Great Performances: Dance in America Series with Wynton Marsalis and the Wynton Marsalis Septet.

In addition to being a principal soloist, Skepple taught company classes on tour and at the Garth Fagan Dance School in Rochester, New York, beginning in 1994.  During the choreographing of the “Lion King”, Mr. Fagan entrusted Sharon to oversee all company classes, master classes, company rehearsals, and lecture demonstrations. She taught master class workshops for Garth Fagan at universities such as: University of North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina School of the Arts, Winthrop College Rock Hill, South Carolina, Skidmore College, Florida State University, Wayne State University, Maui Fine Arts Center, and other schools and universities throughout the United States and abroad. In 2006, Mayfield had the opportunity to give a two-week master-class session to the cast of dancers at Celine Dion’s Las Vegas show “A New Day.”  

In 2006, after eighteen years, Skepple-Mayfield retired from Garth Fagan Dance to pursue a career in dance education. After relocating to Augusta, Georgia, Sharon Skepple Mayfield worked as a freelance dance instructor for local dance programs, teaching modern dance techniques for all levels and ages. She became a faculty member for the Richmond County Board of Education’s Arts Infusion Program at Windsor Spring Elementary School where she taught K-5 students basic dance technique and theatre etiquette. 

In 2007, Mrs. Mayfield became a member of the Florida Dance Association and gave master classes at the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College from 2007-2009. After arriving in Augusta, GA in 2006, she taught dance classes at Augusta Ballet School and Dance Augusta, now known as Colton Ballet of Augusta, The Augusta Mini Theatre, now teaching their dancers through an arts grant, and at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts along with their after-school arts program and free summer arts program. 

In 2008, Mayfield became a faculty member at John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, teaching and choreographing for beginner, intermediate and advanced level modern dance, dance composition, along with advanced men’s dance classes, and was the teacher director of Davidson's Annual Black History Show from 2008-2015.

In 2013, after teaching at Colton Ballet since 2006, Mayfield created The Mayfield Dance & Music LLC, (SkeppleMayfieldDance-SMD) to provide modern dance classes in a structured, motivational environment where movement invention is deeply explored and a higher level of discipline and self-confidence is encouraged. This technical training school provides safe, healthy challenges for the developing dancer by preparing them for life, college, and the artistic process of being marketable.