Energy exchange

Every encounter is an exchange of energy.

When gathering around, forming a roda, each individual comes with a certain amount of energy.

What happens with that energy inside the roda?

Every individual in the roda participates in the process of channeling the energy, passing it onwards. When the roda is one and harmony is achieved, there is a perfect balance and the energy flows from one to another,from the insruments to the clapping, from the clapping to the singer, from the singer to the player, from the player to the roda, all is one and carefuly balanced. When something happens - the game is interrupted/the rythm is unbalanced/the clapping stops/ the roda is deformed - then a 'hole' is observed and an immense "leak" of energy is followed, The game looses its coordination, the focus is gone, and a noticable lack of ballance is shown. Yet the roda has the ability to mend this, it has (like most things in nature) the "will" to ballance itself. If the "leak" was minor the balance is achieved quite immidiately but sometimes the "hole" is too large and the roda inevitably comes to an end with a sense of loss. The individual, in the roda, brings his energy and refreshes it through the means of exchange.

The law of conservation of energy is kept in two variations: in a good harmonious roda, the individual walks away with the same amount of energy that he came with only refreshed, or in a roda that "melted" - with less energy than the amount that he came with.

Photo by: Nick Cooper