A dancer who grew up twirling across studio floors in Lenexa is about to step onto the biggest stage of her hometown region's concert calendar. Katie McCluskey, a 27-year-old Shawnee-born professional dancer now based in Los Angeles, will perform with Mötley Crüe at the Morton Amphitheater in Riverside, Missouri on Monday as part of the band's Return of the Carnival of Sins tour.
McCluskey is one of four dancers touring with the band on the 33-city run, according to the Kansas City Star. The tour kicked off July 17, 2026, in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, and is set to wrap September 26 in Ridgefield, Washington, according to Hoodline, which also covered the tour's stop in Charlotte last month. Fellow 1980s hard rock acts Extreme and Tesla round out the bill on the road.
Among the crew, McCluskey's Riverside stop has reportedly taken on its own nickname. Per the Star, dancers, crew, and members of Mötley Crüe itself have taken to calling the Monday date “Katie's show” — a nod to the homecoming nature of the performance for the Shawnee native who now calls Los Angeles home, where she has lived for the past five years.
From Lenexa Studio to National Stages
McCluskey began her dance career at a studio in Lenexa, choosing dance instead of soccer as a kid, per the Star. She trained in classical styles like ballet along with competition-style dancing, a foundation that eventually carried her to the University of Arizona, where she graduated in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts.
The path from a Kansas City-area studio to major concert stages included stops most dancers only dream about. McCluskey has performed with Kane Brown at the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards, appeared alongside K-pop artist Lisa at the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, and even line-danced with actor Ben Affleck, according to the Star's reporting.
A Return Engagement With Mötley Crüe
This is not McCluskey's first run with the band. She worked with Mötley Crüe during its 2025 Las Vegas residency, a 30-day engagement where she was one of just two dancers on stage — a notably smaller ensemble than the four-dancer lineup touring with the band now. She told the Star that learning the choreography for the tour took just one week, and that she has found something new in every performance since.
“Kansas City holds a place of pride in her heart,” McCluskey said, per the Star's account, and her mother, Kristi McCluskey, added that watching her daughter fulfill her dreams makes the family proud and happy. McCluskey has described dance itself as a discipline that combines performance, athleticism, energy, and storytelling.
Beyond touring, McCluskey has built out a screen resume as well. She appeared in the 2025 film The Accountant 2 and in a 2023 episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Most recently, she spent two months preparing choreography for FX's The Shards, stepping into the role of Debbie alongside singer-actress Hayes Warner for the series, which began airing in August 2026, according to McCluskey's own account.
Mötley Crüe's Anniversary Tour Rolls Into a Brand-New Venue
The current tour marks the 20th anniversary of Mötley Crüe's original Carnival of Sins run, which spanned over 100 dates worldwide in 2005 and 2006 and produced a live album and concert DVD recorded in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It also coincides with the band's 45th anniversary since forming in 1981, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage. The 2026 stage show revives the circus-themed production design from that original reunion tour, and the band's current lineup features lead guitarist John 5, who stepped in for founding guitarist Mick Mars and also performed with Mötley Crüe during its 2025 Las Vegas residency.
The tour also carries a philanthropic component: Mötley Crüe established the Mötley Crüe Giveback Initiative for the 2026 run, directing $1 from every ticket sold to the After School Arts Program to support youth music and arts education following federal funding cuts, per Hoodline's prior reporting.
McCluskey's homecoming lands at a venue that didn't exist a year ago. Morton Amphitheater opened in Riverside in June 2026 as a $120 million development spanning 135 acres, featuring a signature 100,000-square-foot canopy roof that covers 12,000 of its 16,000-seat capacity — Hoodline previously reported on the venue's opening when Train played there in August. Chicago-based Morton Salt acquired the naming rights, and the venue was developed in partnership with Live Nation, with projections calling for 30 to 40 concerts per year and an estimated $70 million in annual economic impact, according to the KC Scene.
City records show Riverside approved Ordinance No. 2133, authorizing and approving a predevelopment agreement between the city and TCO Missouri.
Before Mötley Crüe takes the stage Monday, the amphitheater had already hosted a packed debut season, opening in June and later welcoming Train, Guns N' Roses, and Wu-Tang Clan — the Guns N' Roses stop was delayed by storms, as Hoodline reported at the time. The venue joins Kansas City's outdoor concert scene alongside older stages like Starlight Theatre, per the KC Scene's coverage of the new facility.
For McCluskey, Monday's show folds her personal arc — from a six-year-old at a Lenexa studio to a touring professional performing across the country — into the debut season of her hometown region's newest and largest music venue in nearly two decades.
