  We investigate a population of primordial binaries during the initial stage
of evolution of a star cluster. For our calculations we assume that equal mass
stars form rapidly in a tidally truncated gas cloud, that $\sim10$\% of the
stars are in binaries and that the resulting star cluster undergoes an epoch of
violent relaxation. We study the collisional interaction of the binaries and
single stars, in particular, the ionization of the binaries and the energy
exchange between binaries and single stars. We find that for large $N$ systems
($N > 10^3$) even the most violent beginning leaves the binary distribution
function largely intact. Hence, the binding energy originally tied up in the
cloud's protostellar pairs is preserved during the relaxation process and the
binaries are available to interact at later times within the virialized
cluster.
