Sharon Skepple Mayfield
“Sharon Skepple’s gloriously weighted solo dancing’ are pungent reminders of the electrifying revolutionary contributions modern dance made to the 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 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 a 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 GriotNew York, aired on PBS’s Great Performances: Dance in America Series with Wynton Marsalis andthe Wynton Marsalis Septet.
In addition to being a principal soloist, Skepple taught company classes on tour and at home 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, Skepple-Mayfield retired from Garth Fagan Dance (after eighteen years) 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 in Richmond County, teaching modern dance technique 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 were she taught K-5 students basic dance technique and theatre etiquettes.
Skepple-Mayfield became a faculty member at John S. Davidson Fine Arts High School teaching beginner, intermediate, and advance modern dance along with the advanced men’s dance classes. Mayfield is the teacher director of the Davidson Annual Black History Show. Mayfield taught Modern Dance at the Augusta Ballet School/ Dance Augusta, The Augusta Mini Theatre and is presently at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts after-school arts program and free summer arts program. Miss Skepple Mayfield has been a member of the Florida Dance Association since 2007. In 2007-2009 Mayfield gave master classes at the University of Florida and Santé Fe Community College.