We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Malcolm Batten II a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Malcolm, appreciate you joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

The first time I received an actual adult dollar from dance, was when I was 15 going on 16. I hadn’t been seriously dancing for too long, at this point. My primary dance teacher at the time, Chris Chawi – who I still regard as one of the greatest to ever do it – had reached out to me for a performance for Foot Locker corporate office conference. To me, this was the greatest birthday present ever, for sure. What made it even better was the cast was comprised of some of Florida’s greatest at the time, I’d admired each of them so much. I got real people money, free gear, and support to believe that dance could actually be a viable career for me. The experience was definitely a huge excitement for me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello! I’m Malcolm! I’m a Professional Dancer/Choreographer & multidisciplinary artist. I started training in dance seriously at around age 14. I saw that my middle school had a “boys dance” course that I had done for fun (woke up one day, unprovoked – asked my parents to sign me up, with no prior interest), and from there, it shifted into a more serious path. I came up in Florida in a freestyle-based collective called CultureConduct founded by Mona Lee. So much of my perception of artistry and training in/respect to numberous street styles (popping, locking, hip hop, breaking, etc.) comes from this space. I attribute so much of my idea of chosen family & genuine love of your craft to them, as well. From there, I’ve been blessed to receive opportunities in the commercial dance industry in the years that I’ve been dancing, since. I’m mostly proud of the energy that I always bring into the spaces that I enter. I love that how big I love is a common denominator amongst perceptions of I hear of myself. It’s incredibly uplifting and the biggest compliment. This and authentic knowledge of hip hop/music history and what set me apart from other brands/people. I always make sure to make the educational spaces I provide genuine LEARNING environments that push all of us. I’ll always strive to push that. I also have a clothing brand “Temporalmsft” that’s currently going through a reconstruction. It stems from the definition of its words:
temporal – of earth, earthly
misfit – one that doesn’t belong
Be sure to check it out, as well!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Having someone feel from your art is honestly the most rewarding work. It often times feels a bit difficult to make sense of what we feel these days, if anything, really. Everything feels really fast and like things leave your grasp so easily. So being able to touch someone’s soul through your own work/expression is beautiful. It re-establishes genuine human connection, which we all could so much more of. Seeing people resonate with my movement or wearing my clothes proudly is a feeling that I always welcome.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

What a lot of non-creatives struggle (or outright refuse) to understand: creatives SPEND so much money throughout their journey to make so little back. Training, classes, brushes, canvases, cameras, software, a computer, TIME. A creative’s rate is inclusive of all the time, training, and resources that they had to use on their own, to provide this product. And that’s just monetarily speaking. Speaking solely on the craft, there is an emotional connection that creatives have to their work. Creation for them is often an expression of their feelings, so when you see an artists’ work, you’re literally seeing a physically manifested vessel of their soul. Impossible to put a TRUE monetary value on this, but is incredibly valuable. Art & expression are what everyday people relate to. They are what craft connection. Once non-creatives are able to build the empathy & understanding to really comprehend the gravity of this, we’ll all be able to start seeing more of what we deserve.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Mynamesmalcolm
• Twitter: Mynamesmalcolm
• Youtube: MalBatten2
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/6RtkdhfS3YmHEm4S8

Image Credits

Kahliel Johnson
Jonathan Rabon
Christophe Viseux