Buzzard lope


The Buzzard Lope is a popular southern States dance dating from the 1890s, included in Minstrel Show repertoire, alongside the cakewalk and juba dance. Ostensibly, it is a representation of "a turkey buzzard getting ready to eat a dead Mule ", performed with a comic sensibility known as hokum.
Reference is made to the dance in the penultimate line of the American blues/folk song "Johnny Brown":

Little Johnny Brown, spread your comfort down
Fold one corner, Johnny Brown
Fold another corner, Johnny Brown
Take it to your lover, Johnny Brown
Show her your motion, Johnny Brown
Lope like a buzzard, Johnny Brown
Give it to your lover, Johnny Brown