There are a couple of especially cliquey London milongas (happy to warn you about those in PM), but mostly it's the usual story for visitors: easy to dance as a leader, tough as a follower. I would always recommend to a visiting follower than they meet up with a leader friend if possible, so they are seen dancing.
And that's why there are various published codigos for different venues in BsAs. Some are often negative (don't do this, or that); some reinforce the positive (both apologise if there's a collision). But they were primarily the view of what mattered, and was relevant at the time, at that venue.
And sometimes you've got to spell it out in simple words in terms that are understood there. I agree 'respect others' is frequently insufficient (you're disrespectin' me!); it's just a basis. I'd still emphasize positive aspects.
I think I have been observing slightly less new male leaders (who stick around instead of leaving after a few months) in a few places around here and in the UK. I'll have to ask around discretely and see what the ladies who mainly follow think about that. It's slightly concerning, and I guess if the trend continues in the next decade or two, double-roles/lady leaders will become standard, and we'll see a greater imbalance in terms of gender.
Would love to get those warnings, thanks! And thanks for the recommendations, I'll pass them on to my follower friends. It does make me feel slightly better as a leader at the very least. I was thinking of heading down to the London tango marathon in June - have you heard/experienced anything about that?
Ouch - that's something I've felt personally, one follower looked very disappointed afterwards when I was "just" dancing to the music and not leading volcadas and boleos in an admittedly uncrowded floor to a Pugliese tanda that started with La Yumba.
I now it! I know it too!
Can't see double-role females as encouraging prospective male dancers. As I've already said: just a workaround. It's always been, partially, the Strictly/DWTS myth, then some get the difference with social AT and the intricacies of leading. Maybe it needs that social side as well rather than the strict demarcation milonga myth, as well as the opposite sex.
We've had the odd single male who's returned recently, giving a leader surplus. Most now turn up as [dance] couples and the single females have disappeared, possibly/probably elsewhere - maybe the dual-role practica. A re-arrangement.
Hmm. Even here there's more flexibility. We have relatively double-role followers. We have some of course, and a bunch of big ladies who always lead, but maybe we're more traditional over here. There's a fairly big Argentine tango community here, plus some Colombians, and lots of Latin speakers in general.
What do they do when they get to B.A.?
New dancers are hard to acquire--male or female. It takes a lot of determination to get to the point where you can actually dance in a milonga and few people last longer than the first few lessons. We have a fairly large community of dancers, and many with some longevity, but the hard core of serious dancers is not that large.
Respect the current culture of their host country.