There are plenty of cotillions - in the sense of "nineteenth-century dance games", not "eighteenth-century French square dances" - that are some variation on "form a square or longways set and do a quadrille figure or country dance". "La Contre Danse" is an interesting take on this theme from W. Gilbert Newell, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was published in St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's compilation, Original Cotillion Figures (St. Louis, 1900). It caught my eye because of the unusual formation: couple facing couple across a longways set, as in the American contra "The Tempest", the English "Polka Contre Danse", or quadrille figures done in columns rather than squares. I can't be certain that this is the only cotillion figure using this formation -- hundreds of them were published from the early nineteenth into the early twentieth century, and I can't claim to have looked at them all -- but it's the only one I've found so far.
"La Contre Danse" is relatively complicated as figures done in sets go. It opens and closes with two-step done in couples, and in between there is a brief march to set up the longways set before the actual contra/country/contre danse figures begin. Here's how it works:
1. Opening two-step and march
Sixteen (or any even number) of couples two-step. At the leader's signal, they form a column of couples, as in a Grand March. March down one side of the hall to the center of a wall, then down the center of the room to the far end, where they separate by right and left by couples (first couple to the right, second to the left, etc.) The couples turn fairly sharply and head back down the room until the entire set is split in half. The leader signals a halt, and the two lines of couples turn by couples and face the center of the room, about eight feet apart. Each couple will be facing another couple across the set. Each line alternates ladies and gentlemen.
2. Figures
The top couple from each line turns and face down the set, linking arms with their opposite couple in a line of four, and proceeding to the bottom of the set. You can see how this works in the modern diagram at the left, taken from Ricky Holden's The Contra Dance Book
As those first four dancers move down the line, the next couples (one from each line) turn, also form a line of four and follow them. All the other couples clap in time to the music and move up the room. The first four break sideways into couples at the bottom, and the second four pass them to end at the foot of the set.
All go forward and back in lines, then circle hands four with the opposite couple (8b). Balance partners and turn (8b). Ladies' chain with opposite couple (8b). All forward (2b) and back (2b), forward (bowing or curtsying to one's opposite) (2b) and back (2b).
The couples currently at the top of each line then link arms and go down to the bottom, followed by the next couples as before. The above thirty-two bars of figures then repeat.
This goes on until all the couples have gone down the set and the original first couples are back at the head of their lines. At this point, all go forward and back (4b), forward again (2b), salute one's opposite (2b), and take that opposite as one's new partner to dance the two-step until the leader signals to take seats.
3. Favors
It's not clear exactly when favors are given, but the recommended ones are "[h]oes, rakes, or other toy garden implements". My best guess is that this is because of the "country" presumed (incorrectly) to be implied by "contre".
Favors are often given when dancers take their new partner for a figure, but in this case they're in the middle of the figures, and there's only the space of a salute (bow or courtesy) to present a favor. One possible option is to present the favors at the end of the dance. Another is to give this a conventional cotillion opening by having half the number of couples dance at the beginning before splitting (at a signal from the leader) and seeking new partners to continue the opening two-step, bestowing favors upon whomever is chosen for the march segment.
Reconstruction and Performance Notes
There are three minor ambiguities in the instructions beyond the timing of the favoring.
(1) The procession of pairs of couples down the center of the set: which couple ends up at the foot of the set? The original language:
The two couple upon arriving at the foot, separate by couple to the right and left and continue until the next four are down to the foot; they then take their places at the foot of the line.
"They" is ambiguous; it could refer to the original first or original second couple. And while it is typical, in instructions for contra dances that have two couples descending like this, for the second couple to end below the first, the extra directions here ("continue until the next four are down to the foot") could be interpreted to mean that the first couples don't allow themselves to be passed by the second and the original first couples end at the bottom. That would also be more a more grammatically logical interpretation of which couple "they" references, though I wouldn't rely on that unquestioningly, given the uneven levels of writing and editing in dance manuals in general.
The potential problem with this interpretation, however, is that the end of the series of figures is specifically said to be when "the original first four are back to the top" (emphasis mine). If the pairs of couples switch places as they progress down the set, then the entire set of figures needs to be down twice through to get the original couples back to the top place. That isn't necessarily a problem, as long as the lines of couples are not so long as to exceed the dancers' patience with the figure, and I wouldn't have any problem with interpreting it thus. Just keep in mind that with that interpretation, sixteen couples (eight in each line, meaning eight times through the figures if the couples switch places at the foot each time) would probably be close to the maximum number wanted for the figure.
(2) Forward and salute. After the ladies' chain, the original language is "all forward and back, forward again and salute", which is followed immediately by the next four down the center. That's obviously going to be a bit of a mess if the dancers have come forward but not retreated to places. There's also a general problem that dancers often don't go backward quite as far as they go forward, and the lines really need to be quite far apart for the foursomes to go comfortably down between them. For this reason, I'd make this figure two steps forward, two counts of salutes, and four steps backward. This follows the pattern of the familiar "Moulinets" figure of the Lancers, though -- unless one's musicians are very sharp -- without the musical ritard that signals the salutes.
When the forward-and-salute reappears at the very end of the figures, going back is not necessary. One wants to go as far forward as possible since immediately after the salute one takes one's opposite as one's new partner for the final two-step. Four steps forward, four counts for the salutes, and away they go.
(3) The balance and turn partners. There are so many possible choices for how to do the balance at this point; I can't claim any one to be more valid than the other. My personal preference would be for a simple "step right, close left; step left, close right; repeat". Aesthetically, I like a forward-and-back balance better, but when the couples face each other for the balance, they are each back-to-back with another dancer, all up and down the lines. Anything that involves dancers backing toward each other in this formation has the potential for a lot of back-to-back crashes.
Music
As is normal for cotillion figures, no music is specified beyond "two-step". The music needs to go on long enough for the initial couple dancing, the march, as many times through the figures as necessary, and the final couple dancing. If one doesn't have live musicians, some math is going to be necessary in selecting or editing a recording. I'd allow at least thirty-two bars for each of the couple-dance segments. The amount needed for the march will depend on the number of couples. The amount for the figures can at least be calculated easily, assuming eight bars for each time two couples process down the set, unless it is a really long set. Musicians will make life a lot simpler!
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