A student of Pierre Beauchamp, Guillaume-Louis Pécour made his debut in 1671 in Psyché, a ballet by Molière and Lully. In 1674, he entered the Académie Royale de Musique where he would remain until 1702. 

In 1687, he was appointed Ballet Master, initially with Louis Lestang through 1689. He arranged numerous ballets for the Opera, the Court and the Louis-le-Grand Jesuit college. 

In 1700, his prominence increased after Raoul-Auger Feuillet, himself a dancer and choreographer, published the dances created by Guillaume-Louis Pécour which he considered to be “the model for the most perfect of dancers”. 

His book on the notation of movement “Chorégraphie, ou l'art de décrire la danse par caractères, figures et signes démonstratifs” enjoyed considerable success for more than a century and a half. In support of that theoretical work, he published a “Compendium of Dances” each year which outlined the ball dances and new ballets currently in vogue, and which were, for the most part choreographed by Pécour and himself. 

Louis Pécour died in 1729, during a performance of Tancrède.