As a child, he was interested in dance, and his family reluctantly allowed him to train under Gustave Ricaux [fr].

In 1942, he entered the Paris Opera Ballet School, where he was taught by Ricaux, Serge Lifar, and Carlotta Zambelli.

He also received private training with Lyubox Yegorova, Rousanne Sarkissian, and Nicolas Zverev.

[1] In 1954, he choreographed his first major work, La Nuit Est une Sorcière, to music by Sidney Bechet, for Belgian television.

[4] Between 1963 and 1968, Lacotte served as the director of the newly founded Ballet National Jeunesses Musicales de France, where he also danced and choreographed.

[3] In 1966, Lacotte also guest choreographed at Ballet Rambert in London, where he created Intermede and Numeros.

[3] The following year, he reconstructed Filippo Taglioni's La Sylphide, originally made for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1832, based on historical documents.

This was one of the great triumphs in Lacotte's career, and he was soon invited to mount the production at the Paris Opera Ballet.

[3] In 1985, Lacotte and Thesmar were invited by the royal family of Monaco to revive Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

[2][5] In 2010, Lacotte choreographed an original ballet, Les Trois Mousquetaires, based on Alexandre Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers.