It was a dramatic night of competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize in Toronto Saturday: an evening complete with a seemingly disastrous injury, a last-minute replacement and, eventually, redemption.

Ulrik Birkkjaer and Tina Pereira won the Erik Bruhn Prize for best male and female dancers in Toronto Saturday.
(Cylla von Tiedemann/National Ballet of Canada)

Tina Pereira, a corps de ballet dancer representing the National Ballet of Canada, overcame adversity to win the Bruhn Prize for best female dancer before a packed house at the Four Seasons Centre in downtown Toronto.

Ulrik Birkkjaer, a corps de ballet dancer from the Royal Danish Ballet, won the male honour. Each will receive $7,500 and a specially designed sculpture.

Mid-performance injury

During the classical portion of the contest, hometown competitors Pereira and Keiichi Hirano suffered a serious setback when Hirano tore his Achilles tendon in the midst of their performance of the pas de deux from Le Corsaire.

Pereira, who was a replacement chosen several weeks ago because of an injury to original competitor Bridgett Zehr, managed to complete the set and was rewarded with a standing ovation.

Principal dancer Guillaume Côté stepped in for Hirano during the second, contemporary half of the competition.

However, instead of the scheduled premiere of an original new piece by Canadian choreographer Sabrina Matthews, he and Pereira performed the balcony pas de deux from John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet.

The other competitors were Misty Copeland and Jared Matthews from American Ballet Theatre, Yuhui Choe and Fernando Montano from the Royal Ballet and Yao Wei, Birkkjaer's partner from the Royal Danish Ballet.

Established in Bruhn's memory

Held once every four years, the competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize honours the great Danish dancer and choreographer who served as director of the National Ballet of Canada from 1983 to 1986.

A male and female dancer, aged 18-26, compete from four of the world-famous ballet companies with which Bruhn is most often associated: the American Ballet Theatre in New York, the Royal Ballet in London, the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen and the National Ballet of Canada.

This year's ceremony also included a performance of Glen Tetley's Voluntaries as a tribute to the acclaimed Canadian choreographer who died Jan. 26.