A Hobart gym targeted by repeated attacks during multicultural dance classes has been overwhelmed by community support, with a free Bollywood workshop filling the studio beyond capacity in a show of solidarity.
Around 70 people turned out to the Artgym event on Barrack Street on Wednesday night, far more than the five to eight people who would normally attend a class, forcing organisers to open the garage door to accommodate the crowd.
Dance instructor Pratik Vhatkar said the response sent a powerful message.
“The community came and really supported us through these difficult times,” he told Pulse.
The free workshop followed a series of incidents in which rocks, bottles and dinner plates were hurled at the building during multicultural dance classes.
Artgym owner Eilish Kidd has previously told Pulse that windows were smashed twice, costing thousands of dollars in damage and that Vhatkar’s car windscreen was shattered by rocks thrown from a roof during a Wednesday night class.
Kidd said she believed the attacks were driven by someone aggravated by the music played during Bollywood and K-pop sessions.
Vhatkar said someone may have attempted to throw a rock during the community event but was deterred by the crowd.
“They just saw the numbers and they didn’t come back the entire night,” he said.
Vhatkar said those who attended had made a commitment to support a multicultural business or event once a month as a show of solidarity.
“We’ve made a pact where we will try to support a multicultural business or event once every month just to kind of show support for multiculturalism in Tasmania,” he said.
Normal classes will resume next week and the studio is using its social media pages to encourage people to support other multicultural businesses.
Kidd previously said the gym had five trouble-free years before the attacks began and that the situation had left people feeling uneasy.
