布鲁恩国际职业生涯的转折点出现在1955年5月1日，他在纽约芭蕾舞剧院的一次日场演出中，与年长他近20岁的艾丽西亚·马尔科娃（英语：Alicia Markova）女爵士搭档，首次出演《吉赛尔》中的阿尔布雷希特（Albrecht）一角，登台之前仅仅排练了三天。[2]演出引起了轰动。舞蹈评论家约翰·马丁（英语：John Martin (dance critic)）在《纽约时报》撰文，称其为“一个值得载入史册的日期，就好像今天最伟大的吉赛尔，将神圣托付给了可能是明天最伟大的阿尔布雷希特。”1955年6月，P·W·曼彻斯特（P. W. Manchester）在《舞蹈新闻》（Dance News）上发表了一篇题为《创造历史的日场》（The Matinée that Made History）的文章，他写道：
那时，他是舞者的完美典范——步伐精确，姿态优美，技艺精湛，举止高贵，手势优雅。他线条非凡，他的腿部跳动（他丹麦训练的产物）令人惊叹。他只需像《仙女》中的詹姆斯那样执行一系列的Entrechat（英语：Glossary of ballet#Entrechat）就可以掀翻屋顶，他是为数不多的有此能力的舞者之一。这些舞步，无论执行得多么出色，始终是更深层次概念的一部分，是表征的一部分。埃里克·布鲁恩是一位完美的舞者——与人们通常认为他是高度专业化的艺术家相去甚远……他是其他芭蕾舞团的道德榜样，这来自于他对每个角色所投入的专注和认真。[注 5][10]
布鲁恩撰写了《技术之外》（Beyond Technique），其中采用了弗雷德·费尔（英语：Fred Fehl）的照片，该书于1968年发行，并于1973年作为“舞蹈视角”（Dance Perspectives）第36册重新发行。他还与莉莲·摩尔（Lillian Moore）合著了《布农维尔与芭蕾技术：奥古斯特·布农维尔编舞练习曲研究与评论》（Bournonville and Ballet Technique: Studies and Comments on August Bournonville's Etudes Choregraphiques，1961年，2005年重印）。他是约翰·乔纳斯·格鲁恩（英语：John Jonas Gruen）所著的《埃里克·布鲁恩：贵族舞者》（1979）的主人公，该书是在他的合作下撰写的，部分内容基于大量访谈。亚历山大·迈纳茨（Alexander Meinertz）于2008年出版了丹麦语传记《埃里克·布鲁恩——内藏锦绣》（Erik Bruhn – Billedet indeni），尚未被翻译成英文。
1987年，布鲁恩因“对加拿大及其文化的模范贡献”，而被追授为年度帕古里安艺术卓越奖（Pagurian Award for Excellence in the Arts）的第一位获得者。[11]
《贝尔电话时间（英语：The Bell Telephone Hour）》节目：《堂吉诃德》与玛丽亚·塔尔切夫的双人舞（从1961年）；《仙女》第二幕（1962年）和由布鲁恩编舞的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》双人舞（1967年），均与卡拉·弗拉奇配对；1963年与索尼娅·阿罗娃的黑天鹅双人舞，以及《葛佩莉亚》第三幕双人舞。可在DVD“鲁道夫·纽瑞耶夫与埃里克·布鲁恩——他们在贝尔电话时间的全部表演（1961－1967）”（Rudolf Nureyev & Erik Bruhn – Their Complete Bell Telephone Hour Performances (1961–1967)）中获得，其中还包括塔尔切夫和纽瑞耶夫的《真扎诺花节（英语：Flower Festival in Genzano）》双人舞，由布农维尔与布鲁恩编舞（从1962年开始）。
“双人舞的艺术”（The Art of the Pas de Deux）：与玛丽亚·塔尔切夫的《堂吉诃德》双人舞；包括塔尔切夫和纽瑞耶夫的《真扎诺花节》双人舞，由布鲁恩编舞。可由DVD获取。这两场表演都来自“贝尔电话时间”节目，也都可以在DVD“玛丽亚·塔尔切夫的艺术”（The Art of Maria Tallchief）中看到。
《埃里克·布鲁恩：我一样，只是更多——传奇舞者的个人写照》（Erik Bruhn：I'm Same, Only More – A Personal Portrait of the Legendary Dancer，2002年），由其朋友丹麦电影制作人伦纳特·帕斯博格（Lennart Pasborg），在其死后制作的42分钟电影传记，包括表演镜头和布鲁恩的独白录音作为剪辑和剧照的画外音。因使用档案材料而在戛纳获奖。
原文：Technically exacting as it is, the role of Albrecht is not beyond the capabilities of any competent premier danseur, and Erik Bruhn is infinitely more than that; he is probably the most completely equipped male dancer of the day, with the flawlessly clean technique that comes only through a combination of enormous talent allied to correct day-by-day training from childhood ... If his dancing was magnificent, and it was, his partnering of and playing to Markova were no less so. The result was one of those electrifying performances when everyone both in the audience and on the stage is aware that something extraordinary is happening.
原文：Back home Bruhn, 32, is the idol of the Royal Danish Ballet, where he has brought new life to the classic roles reserved for a premier danseur noble. His technical credentials include a fine dramatic sense and an ability to leap with a high-arching grace, to turn with cat quickness and fluidity on the ground or in midair, to project emotion with vivid movements of arms, legs and body. But Bruhn long ago became aware that "technique is not enough," and he is remarkable for the feeling of tension he can convey by his mere presence. Poised and trim (5 ft. 7 in., 140 lbs.), he somehow rivets an audience with the promise of action before he has danced a step ... As Bruhn soars ever closer to his apogee, he spends restless nights reviewing roles in his mind. He has surprisingly little of the vanity that goads most performers; he does not want audiences to pay, he says, "only to see me jump." Furthermore, he would rather "be bad in a good ballet than be great in a bad ballet." But to be great in a good ballet? To do it, says Erik Bruhn, "it is important, even if you performed a role the night before, to think, 'This is the first time this is going to happen.' "
原文：It has been noticed that I have been able to work with many different kinds of ballerinas, and on most occasions we succeeded in becoming a team if only for a season or two. And that is because I always wanted to relate to them. I don't remain the same. Each ballerina is different; she has a special flavor or she wouldn't be a ballerina. This would color my style and shape my approach. I remain true to myself, but I let her flavor color me as mine colors her ... A good partnership can somehow crystallize something that you have been doing already. When the right people come together, they bring the right thing out of each other ... With the right person, it becomes a situation of being rather than playing ...The role absorbs you and you become it. And then it seems like you can do nothing wrong because you are so totally absorbed by this being.
原文：Mr. Bruhn was valued more as an epitome of manly elegance and for the sensitivity of his acting than as a virtuoso technician. As a partner he was grave and deferential, yet he never subsided meekly into the background. And as a poetic actor, he lifted male leading roles in the classic ballets to a new prominence... Mikhail Baryshnikov [said] "He was indisputably one of the greatest dancers we have ever seen, and his dignity and style have been a model to us all, which can not be replaced."
原文：He was, then, the model of perfection as a dancer – precise in every step, beautifully placed, a virtuoso technician, noble in bearing, elegant in every gesture. His line was extraordinary, his leg beats – a legacy of his Danish training – amazing. He was one of the few dancers who could bring the house down simply by executing a series of entrechats as James in La Sylphide. The steps, no matter how brilliantly executed, were always part of a deeper concept, part of a characterization. Erik Bruhn was a complete dancer – a far cry from the highly specialized artist he was often made out to be... His moral example to the rest of ballet came through the concentration and seriousness with which he committed himself to every role.
