Tamara Khanum was an Uzbek

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

 dancer of Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 origin, notable for being the first Uzbekistani woman to perform publicly and without a veil

Veil

A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...

. Tamara Khanum was a colleague of ill-fated Uzbek dancer Nurkhon

Nurkhon

Nurkhon , Nurkhon Yulacheva, was a young Uzbek dancer born in Margilan, a city in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan. She was one of the first Uzbek female dancers to perform without the traditional Islamic veil...

.

Born Tamara Petrosyan in Margilan

Margilan

Margilan is a city in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan. It is located at latitude 40°28' 16 N: longitude 71°43' 29 E. at an altitude of 487 meters....

, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, she grew up in the Fergana Valley

Fergana Valley

The Fergana Valley or Farghana Valley is a region in Central Asia spreading across eastern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Divided across three subdivisions of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse, and in the early 21st century was the scene of ethnic conflict...

. Khanum showed interest in dance as a child, performing Uzbek folk songs and dances.

Khanum's dancing had a profound effect on American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

, who in a 1934 article, "Tamara Khanum: Soviet Asia's Greatest Dancer," praised Khanum for her performances and for breaking cultural taboos by appearing on stage.