According to Ciorănescu, Alecsandri had managed to invent folklore: "this legend [of Banul Mărăcine] has become popular and is even sung and danced in certain rural circles."Ciorănescu, p. 84 A dance routine known as Banul Mărăcine is described by Constantin Kirițescu as an "eminently athletic" and modern concept, one of several "arranged and stylized from folk elements".Constantin Kirițescu, "Specificul românesc și arta mișcării. Izvoare tradiționale cu privire la educația fizică la români", in Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Vol. X, Issue 2, February 1943, p. 360 Musicologist Marțian Negrea identifies the melody as an ancient one, with one of its variants appearing in Johannes Caioni's 1652 anthology.Viorel Cosma, "Valorificarea patrimoniului muzical românesc și unele aspecte ale probității științifice", in Era Socialistă, Vol. LV, Issue 24, December 1975, p. 27; Dan Simonescu, "Recenzii. Negrea Marțian: Un compozitor român ardelean din secolul al XVII-lea: Ioan Caion", in Revista Istorică Română, 1940, p. 395 The work was possibly first arranged in the 1850s,Andrei Bucșan, "Din istoria folclorului și folcloristicii. 70 de ani de început de mișcare coregrafică românească (1848—1918)", in Revista de Etnografie și Folclor, Vol. 27, Issue 1, 1982, p. 89 though Urechia's play had its own dance numbers, arranged by educator Gheorghe Moceanu.Nicolae Rădulescu, "Pagini de istorie. Inceputurile practicării gimnasticii la noi în țară", in Cultură Fizică și Sport, Vol. XI, Issue 6, June 1958, p. 380 In the 1910 and '20s, Banul Mărăcine dances were still being performed in the Kingdom of Romania;Pop III, p. 4. See also Brezianu, p. 206 according to one report from 1916, they were in fact named "for the Roumanian general who developed it in order to give his soldiers something to occupy their time during leisure hours.""Folk Dance of Roumania Will be Given at Balkan Concert", in Indianapolis News, February 25, 1916, p. 3 Sociologist Henri H. Stahl noted in 1939 that the dance routine had been created as a cabaret act, by Gheorghe Moceanu, and came with fantasy Romanian costumes that were later adopted as authentic by Romania's urbanized peasants.Henri H. Stahl, Pentru sat, p. 67. Bucharest: Fundația Regele Carol I, [1939]
