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At one point in the dialogue, the questioner refers to Derrida’s description of two kinds of feminism: one as emancipatory and progressive, but boring, and the other as “the maverick feminist who dances” (191). The first kind of feminism is “very necessary but also not imaginative”, while the second kind of feminism can “think almost beyond, or re-think the existing structures”. This idea excited me, but I wanted to understand the questioner’s rather peculiar choice of phrasing, so I did some nerd research and found the original article that the questioner references, an interview with Christie McDonald: “Choreographies”. Below is an excerpt of their opening dialogue which puts the phrase in some context:

MCDONALD: Emma Goldman, a maverick feminist from the late nineteenth century, once said of the feminist movement: "If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution. [….]

DERRIDA: It was a good idea to begin with a quotation, one by a feminist from the end of the nineteenth century maverick enough to ask of the feminist movement its questions and conditions. Already, already a sign of life, a sign of the dance.

Though it’s now hard for me to hear the phrase “maverick” without thinking of the McCain/Palin train wreck, I love Derrida’s distinction between the “very necessary” feminism, which works within society to gain women more access to traditionally defined modes of power (e.g. voting, equal pay, reproductive rights, etc), and the “maverick” feminism, which questions the trade-offs that this movement makes in its quest for power.

Goldman’s quote also brings up something which I found myself somewhat writing about in my recent paper – the necessity for “play” in any movement or philosophy. As Sosnoski suggests in his article, “theory-making is patriarchal”, but “theorizing” helps performances become more effective (74). I think this is part of what Derrida enjoys about the “feminist who dances”, that she challenges the static, repetitive movements of the feminist movement, and remains in motion, rather than resting on one condition or idea.