Sapphir Berkovich

What my show actually looks like

I do not dance. I walk, stand and turn, which is a completely different school. I worked runway from seventeen, and there you learn one thing: how to fill a room while doing almost nothing.

My fashion work is built on the walk. There is a line, a stop, a turn, and a moment where I simply stand and look. People used to a lot of movement are thrown at first and then understand, because that stillness draws far more attention.

I am 175 centimetres with a model build, no tattoos and no piercings. The body stays completely clean, which is part of the aesthetic rather than a stray fact. In a fashion line every extra detail breaks the picture.

Who I suit

Fashion events, openings, shoots, a company event with a mixed audience. I am one of the safe choices in the gallery — there is nothing in my show that would make a woman in the room uncomfortable.

A birthday that wants to look expensive. Villas, suites, hotels with a large window, where the picture works without my having to do anything.

Where I fit less: a group wanting interaction, laughter and noise. I do not work with an audience, I work in front of one, and that is not what every evening wants.

Where it works

I need a runway. Not a stage — a run: three or four metres you can walk in a straight line. In a narrow living room I take two steps and turn, which looks like someone hunting for the exit.

And light. My work lives on clean shadow, so a strong side lamp beats darkness. I work across north Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Jaffa.

What I do not do

No lap dance and no interactive show. If you were hoping I would sit on somebody’s lap, that has not happened and will not, and I say so in the message rather than at the door.

Nobody touches the wings. They are handmade, a single pulled feather shows immediately, and they cost about as much as three shows.

No filming and no touching unless I invite it. The show ends when it ends, with no afterwards.

How I got into this

Runway from seventeen. Shows, campaigns, two years in Milan. At twenty one I started to understand how short that road is and that I did not want to be the one clinging to it.

I came to private work through photography. A photographer I had worked with suggested one evening and I agreed mostly out of curiosity. I found everything the runway taught me works there too, except the distance is ten times shorter, which changes everything.

I am twenty two and three years into this. I still walk shows when they call, and I do not plan to give up either.

What I bring and what I need from you

Two outfits, high heels, and the wings if you asked for the angel. The wings travel in their own case and take room, so I arrive by car.

From you: three metres to walk, side light and a speaker. My music is electronic and downtempo, what they play at shows.

And a smooth floor. Fifteen centimetre heels on thick carpet is not walking, it is survival, and it shows.

Mistakes people make when they book me

Expecting dancing. It says everywhere that I do not dance, and it still happens. If you wanted movement, take someone else and I will say who.

A narrow room. Without a run I lose my main instrument.

Turning off all the lights. I need light. In the dark the line disappears and a silhouette is left.

Asking for the wings on the night. They do not fit in an ordinary bag and I do not carry them for nothing. Say so in the message and I will bring them.

What I ask before I confirm

How many metres there are to walk. My first question. Three straight metres is the minimum, and it decides whether this looks like a show or like a small room.

What the lighting is. A strong side lamp, not darkness. If there is none, I bring a different programme.

What you are expecting. I ask directly, because anyone picturing an interactive show will be disappointed and I would rather find that out in the message.

Whether you want the wings. Needed in advance because of the size, and at no extra charge.

What happens between booking and the door

After we agree you get the hour, a request about the run and the light, and a question about the wings.

On the day I message when I leave. If the wings are with me I ask for help getting the case in, because it is a metre eighty long and narrow stairs turn it into comedy.

I arrive dressed normally, change in a side room in five minutes and begin. At the end I pack, take the payment and go.

What is included and what is not

In the price: the show, the costume including the wings, the music and travel within the metro area. No service charge and no costume surcharge.

Not included: a speaker and lighting. And if the booking is for commercial photography, that is priced entirely differently and we discuss it separately, because image usage is not the same thing as a private evening.

Why walking can be a performance

This is the question I get most, usually in a tone of “so what is it you actually do”.

On a runway you have twelve metres and thirty seconds, and in that time you have to sell a garment to a full room that has already seen two hundred garments. The only tools are the rhythm of the step, the angle of the shoulder, a look and a stop. There is no music helping you and no choreography to hide behind.

Anyone who learned that brings something to a small room that a dancer does not: the ability to hold attention without moving. At a private evening it reads as total confidence, and that is exactly what people remember afterwards.

It is also why I do not try to dance. Mediocre dancing looks mediocre immediately, and a good walk looks expensive.

When somebody else suits you better

If you wanted energy, interaction or movement, I am not the choice, and saying so in advance will not offend me.

I would suggest Yonit Dror for latin energy, Noa Linden for artistic pole, or Alina Sokolova for a softer line.

Booking me

Name, hour, address, how many guests, and how many metres there are to walk. I always ask about the metres.

Standard price, no deposit. The whole gallery is here. If you are not sure the room fits, send a photograph — I answer within a minute and say plainly, including when the answer is that somebody else suits you better.