♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, priced out. it's the latest blow in a long list of economic bad news, soaring rents. >> bidding war is standard practice at this point. >> apartments going on the market snapped up within hours. >> i hop out of bed, it's insane, you'll put in an application and someone will come to you and say that someone rented it for $400 more per month. >> the country bracing for recession, and many americans already overwhelmed by inflation -- now rent hikes pushing them to the brink. >> this has been very stressful overall. because everything's going up, but my paycheck is not going up. plus, hiplet.

ballet with the rhythmic beat of hit hop. >> we cut our bodies in half. our feet will be doing classical, our arms will be going crazy. >> it's ultimately about inclusion, welcoming those not always embraced by traditional bay lay. >> i don't have the feet, i don't have the long legs. i have big thighs and feet that don't point for ballet. beyonce. ♪ ♪ you won't break my soul ♪ >> the queen bey isn't breaking the wauls.

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♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. today a new report shows the u.s. economy is sputtering, raising fears of recession. americans are paying higher prices for everything, especially rent. in some cities rent is up by almost 40%, which has some wondering how much longer can renters hold on? here's abc's dierdre bolton. >> reporter: it feels like a landlord's market here in new york, where lines for a single apartment are all the way down the block. >> i would say on average, we're somewhere between 15% and 20% from what we were getting for rent precovid. >> reporter: at this open house in the city's greenwich village,

all these potential renters are interested in this one-bedroom apparent currently listed at $3250 a month. >> it's pretty crazy. again, been here for 11 years, i've never seen anything like this. >> so i live about a block over. so my rent's going up. i'm just looking to switch locations. it's like the rent has gone up an insane amount in the past two years. >> reporter: rental costs here are some of the highest in the country. but it's not just new york. across the country, rents are skyrocketing. in the last year, the median rent in cincinnati, ohio, is up more than 38%. in nashville, more than 30%. in austin, 32%. >> this is the worst market for renters i've seen during my career. i think it's the worst we've seen in decades. >> reporter: the rise in rental prices are another added expense so many people are facing. whether it's groceries -- >> i would say i'm probably spending a good $50 to $75 more a week on groceries. >> reporter: or higher prices at

the pump. >> gas, it's unreal. i don't know how -- we barely make it and i get paid pretty good at my job. but it's all going to gasoline. >> reporter: americans are feeling the widespread effects of inflation. today's latest gdp report showing the economy is weakening on several fronts. >> there's going to be a lot of chatter today on wall street and among pundits about whether we are in a recession. but if you look at our job market, consumer spending, business investment, we see signs of economic progress in the second quarter as well. >> reporter: the fed, determined to fight historic inflation, raising interest rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point, the fourth like this year. >> my colleagues and are i acutely aware inflation causes hardship, especially on those least able to meet the cost of food, housing, transportation. >> reporter: those rates mean mortgages are going to be much more expensive. the mortgage on the average $416,000 home in america. assuming 10% down, earlier this

year, it would have cost you around $1,600 a month. with today's rates for a 30-year fixed loan, that same payment will be more than $2,200 each month. which is why more and more potential home buyers are being forced to rent. adding to an already competitive pool. >> there are a lot of people who are cooped up at home or having roommates or back with family, and now people are ready to have their own apartment. >> reporter: darrell fairweather is the chief economist for redfin. >> prices are going up so more people are looking to rent because it seems more affordable. that's putting continued pressure on rents to keep going up. >> this has been very stressful overall, because everything's going up. but my paycheck is not going up. >> reporter: asia mayberry, public school employee and single mom in louisville, kentucky, forced to downsize when she says her rent rose by over $350 last month to close to $1,300 a month. >> i am now in a one bedroom,

and i am paying more than i was with a two bedroom. so currently i am trying to find a bigger place for me and my daughter, because this is not going to work. i have a bedroom where she's sleeping on the couch, and that's unfair. and i just have to find something that's going to be bigger as quickly as possible. so this is short-term until i can find something that's more affordable. >> there's so much competition in the market. renters are tired from the experience. so when they come, they come prepared. they come ready. ready to pay whatever price they have to pay to secure it. >> reporter: dylan runs a property management company in manhattan and says there's more to the surges than meets the eye. >> when the pandemic discount came along, the covid discount, we were reducing rent busy 25%. that led to a lot of tenants signing up to live in apartments they wouldn't otherwise normally be able to afford to live in. the only catch was, when the market recovered, so was the rent. it's not that we want to

displace you, but the landlord can't afford to support the tenancy at the rate you were paying, so we had no choice but to raise rents. >> reporter: he's seen the burden that the past two years has placed on landlords. >> everybody has this fallacy that the landlord's some rich guy on a yacht in monaco, driving ferraris around beverly hills, but that's not necessarily the case. a lot of our landlords are everyday people. they put their life-savings into their investment. and they need the rental income desperately because they have a lot of expenses. >> i can't really think of one thing that hasn't increased in the building. everything has increased. >> reporter: in wylie, texas, charlene ferguson is trying to help her tenants, who are all small business owners. she and husband jay decided to invest in this property six years ago. they have 13 commercial renters, including a hair salon, a massage therapist, and a facialist. >> those are the ones that feel it the most, the ones that have

services that -- they're necessary services, but at the same time, you could live without them if you had to. so some people are having to now. >> reporter: with costs increasing, ferguson made the difficult decision to raise the rent but wanted the increase to be as painless as possible. >> i didn't raise the rent until this spring when the cost of operations for maintaining the building increased so drastically. i tried to pick a rate that was fair to everybody. i didn't want to make them pay excessive amounts, but i needed to at least cover the increases. >> reporter: back in new york -- >> come on in. >> reporter: renters like eugenia sanchez, desperate for affordable apartments, face yet another obstacle. she moved back to new york city and was shocked to find she could no longer afford her old apartment. >> it's insane. you'll put in an application and someone will come to you and say

someone rented it for $400 more per month. >> for renters, what rights do they have? >> you may have rent control in california, oregon, across the state. then some cities in other states have rent control protections. but it really depends upon the state. in most places, renters have very little protections against huge rent increases. >> reporter: seamus roller is executive director of the national housing law project. he says even if the landlord has the upper hand, it's important to try and negotiate. >> if you can talk to them and say, i can't make 30%, maybe i can do 20%. that negotiation may be successful with the landlord in understanding that they're trying to figure out how to make it work for them. >> the rate at which apartments are going at this point is incredibly quick. >> reporter: within minutes of this open house ending, the broker already had five people express interest in the apartment. >> we'll have offers or even above ask offers on the apartment before people even had time to see it. >> reporter: he received four

applications. the highest offer coming in at $4,000 a month, $750 over asking. >> as much as we love the bullishness of the activity today, i do expect that probably in the fall, we may see a little bit more tapering of the prices. >> reporter: some experts are hopeful that the rest of the economy could soon rebound too. >> i would go back to 2001 where the tech bubble burst and the housing market continued to grow during that time. it was a short-lived recession, and that may be what we're in for right now. i think the job market is much more dynamic now because of remote work than it was before the pandemic. and that may result if a shortened recession. >> our thanks to dierdre. up next, hiplet, the pulsating dance movement blend drag editional ballet with hip-hop and something that's entirely new. r

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♪ traditional ballet has not always embraced diversity. hiplet, hip-hop with classical ballet, is changing that by welcoming everyone with a talent and passion for dance. here's abc's janai norman. ♪ >> reporter: the precision of a pointed toe. and the grace plie. dance moves that taylor edwards has been perfecting since she was a little girl in chicago.

>> my sisters played basketball, i was a dancer, wanted to dance all the time. it became who i am. >> reporter: when it came to classical ballet, edwards didn't feel she fit in. >> i've always been very secure about pointe. because i don't have the feet. i don't have the long legs. i have big thighs. feet that don't point for ballet. >> what was that like? feeling like there's a whole style that is meant for a body type that doesn't include you? >> going into rooms knowing, okay, i'm short. they're going to look over me immediately. >> reporter: enter homer hans bryant, whose multi-cultural dance studio in chicago became like her second home. >> yes, up, plie -- >> reporter: 13 years ago, ryans took a daring step, creating a unique new form of dance he called hiplet, a vibrant mix of

ballet and hip-hop that builds on classic techniques. >> when i opened my school in the 1990s, i said to myself, how do i capture african american kids? 1993, '94? i rwent to a rap concert. lots and lots of teenagers. the audience singing everything and rapping and having a good time. i walked away with this. if i could put rap and ballet together, to keep kids engaged, because they have the rap caid depos cadence, i would come off with a hilt. >> reporter: with dancers on pointe, wearing tights and leotards, but fused with its polar opposite. >> we're trained in tradition. they have to study classical ballet and all the pointe techniques. but with depth and versatility. they can do african and pointe, latin and pointe, jazz, contemporary. they can do anything on pointe.

>> reporter: brian's goal was to make a diverse space for ballet dancers of all colors, shapes, and sizes to share one stage. inspired after studying under trailblazing dancer arthur mitchell at the dance theater of harlem. in 2016, the hiplet ballet company was noticed when homer posted this dance on instagram to jason derulo's "if it ain't love" and it went viral with over 30 million views. >> get down! hip! >> reporter: since then the dancers have taken their show to stages across the country, even winning over simon cowell last year on nbc's "america's got talent." ♪ >> reporter: after seeing a friend perform with bryant's company, taylor edwards joined the dance company and found her

place. how would you describe hiplet? >> hiplet is an art form that brings a lot of different dance styles and fuelses it into one. it's so much diversity, like diverse energy in one space. >> i always tell people, we kind of cut our bodies in half with hiplet. our feet will be doing something classical, our arms will be going crazy, or vice versa. >> reporter: mia parker also dances in bryant's company. she's been hanging around homer's dance studio since before she could even walk. >> tell me how long you've been dancing and how you got into dancing. >> my mom actually was a student of homer hans bryant back here in new york, way back in the day, at dance theater of harlem. it was kind of guided to dth. because we have ballet legs and feet, she passed them on to me. a lot of dance studios will look like a child, "no, we're not going to take them." we're not like that at all. >> when you talk about some dance studios being exclusive, i mean, it even goes down to, let's be honest, race.

>> sure does. >> not having the tights or the shoes that match your skin type. what was it like growing up with that? >> well, so i did grow up in a predominantly black studio. but flesh tone type wasn't a thing. >> how did that feel when you're supposed to have flesh-toned x, y, z -- and none of it's matching? >> honestly, you didn't think about it. it was the norm. i realized, you guys don't prioritize black people. >> reporter: parker saw homer's contribution shine when her fellow dancers became an online sensation. she says that first video also ignited fierce backlash. >> what kind of negative feedback was there? easea ton something withoutat thenique be. at the time we went viral, too, there was an abrasiveness to black girls doing classical ballet, period. >> explain that. >> black and brown ballerinas are putting in the sweat and tears as much as these other children, but you're tripped up

because of your color. >> that's why homer is doing what he's doing. >> classical ballet is euro-centric, predominantly white girls, long, beautiful necks, beautiful feet, thin, doing the same thing sometimes, looking like mechanics or mannequins. >> reporter: dance professor aunjulie says austin is of a long line of dancers paving the way. >> i think of billy wilson, there is parker mitchell, joan myers brown, dolores brown. >> reporter: despite the legacy of these iconic artists, proving that ballet is for everyone, the field is primarily dominated by white dancers. >> if you're not seeing the library books, the books that are being written, how are we teaching and training students? how are students of color knowing that it's even possible to have a career like this if they're not seeing people that look like them doing it? >> reporter: that traditional

mold broken open here on the hiplet stage with the dancers back on the road this year for a national tour, recently showing off their moves at new york city's queens theater to songs like "someday we'll all be free" by aretha franklin. ♪ >> reporter: and this performance to janet jackson's "burn it up." their show encompassing all that hiplet has to offer and reaching out to the next generation of dancers. how important do you think that inclusivity is for all of the young people coming up behind you? >> because when people sit in the audience, they see you. >> yes, they do. >> young people need to think to the moon and back. follow your passion. don't let anybody tell you that you can't. >> our thanks to janai. up next, the long wait is

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♪ finally tonight, after weeks of anticipation, beyonce's new album "renaissance" is out. ♪ you know i kept it sexy you know i kept it fun ♪ ♪ something may be missing maybe my head for one ♪ >> her first studio album since 2016's soul-baring "lemonade." it features the unexpected song of the summer "break my soul." ♪ you won't break my soul ♪ >> along with other intriguing

titles like "church girl," "alien," "superstar," "america has a problem." hours before the record's release the superstar thanked her family and gaive a special shout-out for those who originated the house music genre which heavily influenced the single writing "thank you to all the pioneers who originate culture, to the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized far too long, this is a celebration for you." she revealed "renaissance" is the first act of a three-act project. and that's "nightl