Maybe it’s the approach of Halloween, but the origin story of Forma Festival sounds like the opening act of a horror movie.

As founder Alexandre Docouto explained it on a recent Monday afternoon, accessing the spots where he and his friends used to perform their techno-driven dance music often required a bit of bravery. They would post flyers around Maryland for gatherings that would point interested passersby toward locations, often in Central Maryland, where you wouldn’t much expect to see a techno crew.

“Dungeon-esque,” Docouto, 22, said. “Outdoors in the woods. Very generator-powered, renegade, bonfire in the woods — you gotta take a hike. Parking a mile away from where you’re going; pack everything you needed to your backpack. Rave all night, sun rises and we clean up the speakers.”

He said they hosted about five of these events in “some illicit areas” starting around two years ago. (No spooky slashers reported at any of these events, thankfully.) Docouto wanted to host more of these events but law enforcement officers started to question their legality. He began searching for a way to blend the sensibility of these gatherings with legitimate venues.

To that end, Docouto and his friends Adrian Michel, Jade Cao and Rj Ramos decided to form Heaven Dancing Club in 2023, which has since recruited about six more regular volunteers. This collective has hosted club nights in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., to feature local and visiting DJs.

But their latest and largest project is Saturday’s Forma Festival, a showcase of techno, electronic dance music and visual arts, including installations and live painting. Ten DJs will perfrom from noon until 11 p.m. at The Garage, a DIY venue in Boyds on Honey Acres Farm in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve.

Those DJs include Matthew Cha, a D.C.-based musician born in Seoul who melds techno with jazz. Heaven Dancing Club has acquired a vintage sound system and will have food and beverages on-site throughout the day and night. They hope this is the start of an annual festival.

Docouto thinks techno, a rhythmically focused genre that has roots in Detroit and Germany, is misunderstood as “aggressive, angry and dark.” He prefers to call it “controlled chaos.” The music spoke to him especially when he was living in his father’s homeland in Lisbon, Portugal. He didn’t quite know enough Portuguese to effectively communicate with locals, but once Docouto got out on a dance floor, they shared the language of thrumming tempos.

The Garage itself has come under scrutiny from county officials this year because of permit problems. But the space has stayed open because of a “temporary work around,” according to an Instagram post. Fans and some Montgomery County residents, appreciating The Garage‘s willingness to host concerts across genres for all ages, have voiced their support.

This idea of a community-driven, rural community hub fit perfectly with what Docouto, who grew up in Laytonsville, wanted for Forma.

Many who love techno feel uncomfortable in more mainstream scenes, Docouto said.

“We can kind of come together and say, ‘Hey, look, this is our couple acres for today. This is our barn for today. This is our refuge.’”