Pay it forward: Sara Juli's experiment begins Wednesday

There is a school of thought that believes exposure to one's fears can, over time, diminish or eliminate them.

Sara Juli (above) is a dancer, choreographer and producer who, like many people, finds money to be a terribly difficult subject.

She told Steven McElroy, in a conversation published in yesterday's New York Times, "I take work that's super personal, issues that are driving me crazy, and I make dances about them."

She may have created a masterpiece with her new piece, "The Money Conversation," opening in two days.

Long story short: she's going to give away her entire life savings — $5,000 — to the audience during her performance; it's up to them whether they keep it, give it back after the show is over, or perhaps even pay it back with interest.

Here's the Times piece, which I found extremely interesting and thought–provoking.

A Truly Generous Performance

Onstage, Sara Juli gives of herself. And her bank account.

When Sara Juli's fiancé suggested it was time for the money conversation, that squirm-inducing talk a couple has before combining finances, she wanted to flee.

That feeling might have driven someone else to second thoughts about the relationship.

But it drove Ms. Juli, a dancer, choreographer and producer, to think she should come to terms with these issues by giving away her savings.

Thus she has drained her account — $5,000 total — for a solo dance-theater piece, "The Money Conversation," running for six performances starting Wednesday at P.S. 122 in Manhattan.

She plans to hand the cash to audience members each night; whether they keep it is up to them.

"I take work that's super personal, issues that are driving me crazy, and I make dances about them," she explained.

Her past solo pieces include "Burden," about falling in love with a member of another faith, and "How to Forgive Yourself in Bed," about what she describes as "reconciling my promiscuous past."

This time, though, it's all about the Benjamins.

"Everyone has a relationship to money and everyone has a relationship to your money, if you put it out there," she said.

"I think by being in the audience you can't not assess your own relationship to money."

Herewith, excerpts from Ms. Juli's conversation with Steven McElroy:

Q. You've done this once already, right? And you recouped all of the money?

A. I tried it out with $1,000. I wanted to test the waters and I learned a ton. And I did get 100 percent of the money back. See, here's the thing: I don't really want to lose all of my money. I'm just willing to let it go to help me readdress my relationship to it. But there will be a creative mechanism that lets the audience give it back at the end. Or give more. There will be people who are handed a couple of hundred dollars and they'll have to make a choice. They can walk away with it, but they'll be taking all that I have.

Q. You're using the whole $5,000 in each show?

A. The show is built around the $5,000. It may become less, or it may become more, depending on the choice each audience member makes.

Q. Can you tell who's who? Will people take it and think, "She'll never know I kept mine?"

A. I'm not tracking that — it's a risk that I'm taking. The idea of confronting the fear behind losing everything you have to your name is, in and of itself, a healing process.

Q. How does that process work?

A. The solo performance that's really investigative and personal and made public is extremely healing. And it's actually funny. When you give away really personal information about yourself it often makes people laugh. ... So it's enjoyable and each person will take something from it — either literally or figuratively.

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Sara Juli's solo dance–theater piece, "The Money Conversation," will run for six performances beginning Wednesday, February 15.

Showtimes:

• Wed./Thurs./Fri. Feb. 15/16/17: 8:30 p.m.

• Sat. Feb. 18: 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

• Sun. Feb. 19: 4:30 p.m.

P.S. 122 is located in the East Village at 150 1st Avenue, New York, NY; 212-477-5288/212-352-3101.

Tickets: $10-$20