It was Saturday night, and they were in the spot: Crystal’s Hip Hop Crew.

The crew won first place and the people’s choice award at the fourth annual Dancing with the Vicksburg Stars, held Saturday at Lady Luck Casino in front of approximately 400 people.

The 11-member group consisting of girls and women ages 10 to 37 was led by Crystal Moulder.

Moulder said this was the group’s third year to compete for the trophy.

“This was our first time to win any award, and we won two,” she said. “It was incredible.”

The road to victory wasn’t easy, Moulder said.

“We had about two and a half months of practice at least once or twice a week, sometimes even three times a week toward the end,” she said. “We put all of the choreography together ourselves. It was a lot of work.”

The group danced to “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson, “I Like Big Butts” by Sir Mix-A-Lot and “Light It Up” by African rapper Blayze.

“We tried to do a little bit of hip-hop, funk and old school,” she said. “We wanted a good mixture — something to get the crowd involved.”

Moulder said the United Way is great and she’s happy to be a part of Dancing With The Vicksburg Stars.

“Every year it’s gotten better and better, and this is one of my favorite events all year,” she said. “I love dancing, so that’s just me. Every year it’s been perfect. I just love it. It’s a great fundraiser, and it goes to a great cause.”

United Way Executive Director Michele Connelly said she wanted to thank everyone who made Dancing with the Vicksburg Stars a success.

“The dancers took hours and hours and hours of practice to perform their passion of dance with our community,” she said. “The money that was raised here tonight for Community Impact will make a difference.”

Connelly said she wanted to stress the biggest winner is the community.

“The biggest winners are the people who are going to be touched by the generosity that was collected here at Dancing With The Vicksburg Stars,” she said.

Connelly said the United Way fundraiser would help the community through their literacy program and other community outreach programs.

Connelly also announced to the public that United Way would be hosting a color run race in September.

“It seems like every time I bring it up in general conversation people are very excited,” she said. “One of the things we are trying to do at United Way is increase participation, and I think by having an event for the entire community that will be fun and exciting will give people outside of our United Way community a way to learn more about United Way. They would be coming for the color run, and in return we would be sharing our story.”

The second-place winner was Ameristar’s Uptown Funk, and the third-place winner was GOLD (Get On Up Line Dancers).

Scores were based on a five-person panel of judges and prior online voting. The people’s choice award was based on donations for the groups after their performance.