  We study the free surface response in a cylindrical container undergoing an
elliptic periodic orbit. For small forcing amplitudes and deep liquid layers,
we quantify the effect of orbit's aspect ratio onto the surface dynamics in the
vicinity of the fluid system's lowest natural frequency. We provide
experimental evidences of the existence of a frequency range where stable
swirling can be either co- or counter-directed with respect to the container's
direction of motion. Our findings are successfully predicted by an inviscid
asymptotic model, amended with a heuristic damping.
