He is widely credited with bringing the Lindy Hop from New York to Southern California and significantly influencing the development of West Coast Swing.
The dominant local dances, such as the Camel Hop and Balboa, quickly fell out of favor as Dean’s East Coast Jitterbug gained popularity.
Notable appearances include Hellzapoppin' (1941), Dance Hall (1941), Playmates (1941), Buck Privates (1941), Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942), Springtime in the Rockies (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942), Always a Bridesmaid (1943), Kid Dynamite (1943), Junior Prom (1945), and Living It Up (1954).
[5] His students included notable figures such as Shirley Temple, Joan Crawford, Cesar Romero, Abbott and Costello, Jonathan Bixby, Sylvia Sykes, Lila Desatoff, and Arthur Murray.
According to jazz dance researcher Peter Loggins, Collins’ style evolved over the decades, eventually returning near the end of his life to the Lindy Hop he had learned at the Savoy Ballroom in the 1930s.
Jewel McGowan, hailed by her contemporaries as the "greatest female swing dancer," was Dean Collins' dance partner for eleven years.
Dean Collins married his wife, Mary, and the couple settled in Glendale, California, where he remained highly active in the swing dance community until his death in 1984.
When asked if her husband was responsible for the emergence of West Coast Swing, Mary responded, “Dean insisted that there were only two kinds of swing dancing – good and bad.”[This quote needs a citation] According to jazz dance researcher Peter Loggins, Dean’s style evolved over the decades, but near the end of his life, he returned to the Lindy Hop he had learned at the Savoy Ballroom in the 1930s.