Cindy Brandle’s new hour-long piece, When Water Falls, begins on a melancholy note: standing in the dark, seven dancers sing a dirgelike variation on “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” But it ends buoyantly, with the performers leaping in and out of colorful kiddie-style life preservers. Brandle–who dances, wrote the work’s two original songs, and does most of the singing, expertly shifting keys–says that though each section is devoted to a different body of water, she didn’t aim to reproduce the movement of each type. The section called “The Falls,” for instance, uses a short set of stairs, but the choreography is measured, not rushed, and ultimately conveys a sense of serene, cyclical renewal. Using repetitive electronic music in addition to live singing, When Water Falls has a meditative effect and emphasizes the continuity and interdependence within and between the natural and human worlds. a Opens Thu 12/7, 7:30 PM. Through 12/15: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Hamlin Park field house, 3035 N. Hoyne, second flr., 773-509-1709, $12-$15.