It would have been hard to guess that a Monday night dance party would have lasted a week, let alone a year.

But No Rule celebrated its one and a half year anniversary at Metro Gallery this month. Curated by DJs Cullen Stalin and club king Scottie B, the party has made a niche for itself by inviting well-known producers and not charging a cover, even if it's at the start of the workweek.

On Monday, Jillionaire, a DJ who's collaborated with rapper M.I.A. and dance hall duo Major Lazer, will be the featured guest.

Stalin, whose real name is Cullen Nawalkowsky, said they didn't think about the problems that a Monday night party would have when they started No Rule. Smaller crowds, for starters. They just wanted a venue for progressive house music.

"The idea was to create a platform for a lot of the newer house-influenced dance sounds, as well as the global dance music that was emerging," he said. "At the time in Baltimore, there was hardly even an outlet for dubstep, let alone cumbia or Dutch house"

Their first guest was Dave Nada, responsible for moombahton, a new genre that sets club music to the Latin beat of reggaeton.

Jillionaire, from Trinidad & Tobago, mixes dance hall and electronic music.

Stalin said the crowds are still as small as when they started at the Zodiac; it later moved to Metro. Typically, there can be 20 to 100 people, far fewer than at Stalin's Ice Age party at Club Phoenix.

But at least, Stalin said, they've slowly grown more receptive to these mixed sounds.

"Now there are multiple dance nights where you can hear some of the stuff we're pushing," he said. "I see that a positive thing."

No Rule is Monday at Metro Gallery, 1700 N. Charles St. No cover. Doors open at 10 p.m.

—Erik Maza